Stop recommending snap

[Ivan]

Currently, ubuntu recommends installing snap by default, and some apps are slowly transitioning from DEB-based installation to Snap-based installation.

APT is great, and facilitates having a clean, maintainable system.

The snap project is not very well designed or engineered (just changing the location of where snap data is located is taking the project more than 5 years because it was hardcoded: https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/1575053). Snaps are large and VERY slow. The design of snap, as well as the way that decisions are made, are very questionable, and are receiving increasing amounts of criticism.

I'd like to request that Ubuntu stops recommending snap, stops transitioning towards snaps, and we come back to defaulting to DEB/APT-based installation for all apps.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Forest (foresto)]

+1

For the record, Snap being forced upon users for critical packages is the primary reason why I recently dropped Ubuntu and stopped recommending the distro to others, after using it for over 15 years.

Container-based packaging has its place. Snap has some interesting features compared to FlatPak and AppImage. However, none of them are suitable replacements for deb & apt, and this is really driven home when they're used for core packages like the web browser. Snap in particular has multiple fundamental design and implementation problems that make it intolerable.

[Avamander (avamander)]

It's also worth pointing out how snap does not offer feature parity. VA-API and native-component extensions are broken to this day with Chromium snap, for four years now. The latter meaning that entire countries can not use chromium snap if they wish to use their national authentication and signature system on the web. Broken for millions of potential users and nobody cares.

Seeing how shipping fully-working software seems not doable with snaps, recommending it as a default is an user-hostile decision at this point in time.

[Wolfgang (wolfgang-v)]

+1

Agree with the other affected users. The project is not ready to be forced on Ubuntu users - maybe never will. Personally I have two main issues that I can not accept:

1) Forcing automatic software updates without user consent.

2) Putting a hardcoded visible folder into the user home directory without the option to change it.

Wish Ubuntu all the best and am very thankful for being my go-to for 17+ years. May those executive decisions make Ubuntu appeal to a broader audience and bring on many new users.

Me - personally - I'm expecting to sadly switch distribution with one of the next releases. Once uninstalling snap begins to affect the system in a mayor way.

[Ivan (ivanperez-nfm)]

So far, 12 people have already indicated that this bug affects them (several giving more detailed descriptions). This bug is now in the top 5 of open bugs with most heat for ubuntu-meta.

Given that others are affected, would it be reasonable to set the status to Confirmed so it is given further consideration?

EDIT: simplify text

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

The bug status is appropriate. Thank you for taking the time to help make Ubuntu better.

[gui ambros (guiambros)]

+1, I would also strongly prefer that Ubuntu stops adopting snap by default, or at least give users the option to use other deb/apt alternatives. I respect the work done by snap developers, but given its current state breaking XDG standards, forced app updates, and impact on size/performance, I don't believe it's ready for prime time (nor will be anytime soon).

I've been a loyal Ubuntu user for almost 15 years, but this would make me reconsider and switching to another distro. I don't say this as any form of pressure, but to indicate how strongly I feel about this issue. Judging by the size of this other thread [1], I'd venture many other users feel equally about this.

[1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/1575053

[Ivan (ivanperez-nfm)]

> Judging by the size of this other thread [1], I'd venture many other users feel equally about this.

Indeed. Just so that we are clear about the importance of this:

At present, the bug linked to by @guiambros, which triggered opening this bug in ubuntu-meta as well, is the 3rd highest by heat *for all bugs recorded in launchpad in all ubuntu packages*:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?orderby=-heat&start=0

I think that says something.

[Adam (gradam)]

+1 to this until (at minimum) the below issues are resolved:
=> https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/1575053
=> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1643706

Seeing these issues open for so long is worrying to me, considering a growing number of critical packages such as Firefox are now distributed as snaps which have crippled usability. Ubuntu has *a lot* going for it, but after 10 years of loyalty, snaps may be the one thing that drive me away..

Unless proper controls are implemented prior to porting applications such as Firefox, snap is heading down the wrong path. I do applaud the snap developers for what they have achieved, and what snap is capable of (It *definitely* has it's place), but fundamental usage issues such as snapd/+bug/1643706 are absolutely crippling it.

@Alex Cabal within the +bug/1575053 summaries this perfectly:

"Now that Firefox is being delivered as only a Snap in 22.04, I'm essentially being strong-armed into using snaps, because Firefox is probably the most critical piece of software on my system and I cannot work without it."

I hope canonical take note, as I believe the community is becoming uneasy, as I now am. At a minimum, allow system critical packages/apps to ship as non snap until proper controls are implemented.

[David Megginson (david-megginson)]

Please either stop using snap, or find a way to get the snap folder out of my home directory.