One of the most outstanding new features of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was the support for the snap packages. These types of packages are all advantages, they said: the updates are push, which means that they will be instantaneous from the program itself. All dependencies are included in the package. They are compatible with many operating systems. But is it really all that good?
Three years have passed and no. Or not yet. Three years can be short or long, depending on your point of view, but at the moment I think these packages, like the Flatpak, are not as perfect as expected. I insist: not yet. In this post, it is important to make it clear that it is my opinion, I explain why I am so pessimistic in March 2019, something that I hope will change in the not too distant future.
Snap packages don't integrate as well as APTs
As you can imagine, as a Linux blog editor I test a lot of software and in many different ways. The first thing I noticed was not trying to write an article, but by choice: I uninstalled Firefox to install the APT version and immediately after starting it I realized that it was not so well integrated into the operating system as is the APT version. If I have to be honest, now I don't remember what, maybe something about its UI, but something caught my attention for the worse and I thought: «well, I'll leave Firefox in its APT version and install the rest of the programs in its Snap version if it exists ».
This integration is something that readers of Ubunlog: things are not done the same in the Snap version as in the APT. And this is annoying. We are used to one thing and they change it for us. But not only are these small changes, but if, for example, we use KDE and install a GNOME-based package, the image will not look as good on the system as the "official" version. And what is worse: there is software that does not respect changes such as the buttons on the left, so we end up having different window layouts. Of course, it must be recognized that this is not exclusive to the Snap versions, but it is more frequent. It also happens in the Flatpak versions.
Where are those instant updates from the Snap?
This week you asked me «When is it updated? Firefox in its Snap version? ». Well the theory says that it is done automatically, but no. It is assumed that as soon as you start the program, a notice appears that there is a new version. In fact, the download should be automatic, but not. If we go to «Help» in «About Firefox», where it should appear that there is a new version, a message appears from which we can download the browser code. To copy the files manually? What a nuisance! For that, it is better to wait a bit, since Firefox 66 reached the APT repositories just 48 hours after its official launch.
Yes, it will get better, in the future. I don't really understand why companies like Mozilla prepare the equivalent in Windows and macOS and leave Linux users behind. Is it because we all have the option of repositories? Whatever it is, I see too much pasotism and the promise they made us in 2016 regarding instant updates is not being met.
Unexpected closings
This may have to do with integration. Schedule once for right now 42 operating systems it can have its consequences. 42 operating systems are many and that figure can be multiplied by a lot if we take into account the different graphic environments. I have seen how two programs, one via Flatpak and the other in its Snap version, have been unexpectedly closed. And as a Linux user I have a stupid face. How many times will I have seen it in 14 years? I think they can be counted on the fingers of one hand and two of those fingers are for these types of packages and this year. As for the Flatpak version, sometimes the program has not even been opened for me, forcing me to install the APT version.
All is not lost
Personally, I think Canonical should push a bit more so that developers are encouraged to improve their software in its Snap version. What is not received is that Firefox is still in version 65.x in its Snap version when version 66.0.1 is already available in the APT repositories and Firefox 66.0.2 will be available soon, which fixes two security flaws that Mozilla has been labeled as serious. One of the reasons for this type of package is the security that instant updates give us, but there is no security if there is no update. For me, part of the responsibility lies with Mark Shuttleworth and his team.
Of course, all is not lost. We are in the first years of life of a more modern package system. Updates will be better in the future, just like the Windows and macOS versions. Unexpected closings will be fixed with the reports we send them. It will be a bit more difficult for the design to be perfect on all operating systems, but almost all modern systems now have a rather flat design and have some similarity.
What do you think of the Snap packages?
To be honest the first one time I installed a snap, it was for the VLC program, and what a surprise I was, it was all in English with a win 98 interface, and from there, I said; "Never install again", and to date I have not done (a couple of years), I keep the .deb packages.
I installed Photoscape on snap a few days ago and it was a shit, there was no way, I uninstalled it, I installed wine as before and ran it as windows exe and it has to work without problems, I agree, the result is not polished and they give problems of operation.
I agree, the SNAP version is slow and does not always work, better an APPImage?
At the beginning of the year I tried Freecad and snap on Debian 9, I had to leave it as impossible. The same problems that Juan Carlos comments and unexpected departures from the program. Back to Freecad 0.16 which is the one available in the current repositories.
I tried the snap version of LibreOffice and it gave me problems. In the last 10 days I have been testing several versions of programs with snap and more or less they have worked the same as always but the truth is that they do not make a difference for the better and in the case of LibreOffice directly it is worse with snap.
I have to do a clean installation of Ubuntu this week and I will return everything to apt and update faster with ppa if there are available.
You can't imagine the damage you do to yourself when you delete messages from us readers when you don't like them ... then you should disable the comment box. Mr. After you have a mumps, you have almost no readers and you dare to filter us.