Snap is why I will never use or recommend pure Ubuntu to anyone.
https://hackaday.com/2020/06/24/whats-the-deal-with-snap-packages/
While we asked the system to install the native package, what we actually receive is the snap. The user is given no choice, no warning. If they weren’t paying close enough attention, they wouldn’t even realize what happened. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, this is subversion.
If it was just snap I could get over it but… Canonical has a long history of doing nonsense that goes against the rest of the ecosystem as if they’re Microsoft and they can just get away with it.
Why do people even use Snaps? Is their any advantage to it?
Sometimes you specifically try to install the non-snap version, and Ubuntu just says “no, you’re getting snap”. There was a kerfuffle about Ubuntu and chrome a while back.
There is sometimes an “advantage” in being able to user a new version with your OS than you would otherwise, or not needing to try to find/download dependencies.
The downside is that it’s slower, they take up more room, they have issues when the program needs to talk to other programs, and that Canonical is creating a weird walled garden.
…also, if you want something similar-ish to snaps, with the same upside and with less downsides, use flat-packs.
…but honestly, just install the actual program.
It’s the easiest way to let Canonical fuck you in the ass!
shocked_pikachu.webm
If there was one benefit with Canonical pushing snap, it got me on using flatpaks for various things more than before.
