Linux

48207 readers

790 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Ubuntu Snap Hate (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

87 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've gathered that a lot of people in the nix space seem to dislike snaps but otherwise like Flatpaks, what seems to be the difference here?

Are Snaps just a lot slower than flatpaks or something? They're both a bit bloaty as far as I know but makes Canonicals attempt worse?

Personally I think for home users or niche there should be a snap less variant of this distribution with all the bells and whistles.

Sure it might be pointless, but you could argue that for dozens of other distros that take Debian, Fedora or Arch stuff and make it as their own variant, I.e MX Linux or Manjaro.

What are your thoughts?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

They're really great for server setups

Please don't go anywhere near servers with either of those, that's what docker and alternatives are for.

the reasons they exist on desktops for the end-user are less compelling and often result in user frustration.

Try running a stable distro without them. If you want a program not to be years out of date, and don't want to compile everything manually, the only options are to use an alternative package manager (flatpak/snap/nix/etc.), distrobox, or appimage + some pm for updates.

However, for your casual end-user, it can quickly become a confusing nightmare

They're a lifesaver for casual users, especially when they're integrated into a gui (software centre and discovery for example). None of the other options are nearly as user friendly.

Permission issues are really rare and distro specific from my experience. Also there are tools like flatseal to make fixing them easier.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I hate snaps and how they pushed them on desktop users, but they’ve always been intended for servers, it’s one of the reasons they can ship things like unified kernel images. Ultimately they allow for a modular immutable system, potentially much more flexible than some others like Silverblue or Fedora Atomic stuff.

What they can do is pretty neat, but their “transitional” deb packages for normal users were ridiculous and should never have happened.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

TBH I haven't used snaps but based on info from this thread:

can't pin specific package version or force reproducibility in any way
can't stop updates
can't add private repos without modifying snapd, only manually install downloaded snaps
can't inspect the package definition or modify it

Because of those reasons I wouldn't use it even on a private server, let alone in production.

Ultimately they allow for a modular immutable system, potentially much more flexible than some others like Silverblue or Fedora Atomic stuff.

So does nix, but it also enables declarative package management, adding your own package sources, modifying existing package definitions, creating your own repos, and generating docker images. It also works perfectly fine for userland packages.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Try running a stable distro without them

Arch mentioned btw