this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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What use to be the PPA that allowed Ubuntu users to use native .deb packages for Firefox has recently changed to the same meta package that forces installation of Snap and the Firefox snap package.

I am having to remove the meta package, then re-uninstall the snap firefox, then re-uninstall Snap, then install pin the latest build I could get (firefox_116.0.3+build2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1_arm64.deb) to keep the native firefox build.

I'm so done with Ubuntu.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah they’re all in on snaps. Vote with your distro choice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm afraid they'll break off Debian one day. Supporting snap is one thing, sabotaging well established user cases (apt installing deb, not being a snap prozy) is another.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What I don't get is why. What with the recent Red Hat debacle one would think Canonical would make a stronger case as opposed to force feeding the issue.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because it’s canonical’s thing they’re marketing to server markets

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

haha.. ubuntu on enterprise doesn't even touch 5% of the market, where 90% of it is RHEL and 5% another is Windows Server and some OSX.. so... I don't think canonical is dumb enough

*please read, enterprise market, not hobbyist. Hobbyist doesn't make money for ubuntu. Well if the hobbyist is a decision maker in enterprise, they probably will have effect, but the problem is, most of them opt in RHEL/Clones

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

You got any data to back that up?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Hot take: PPAs suck and snaps/flatpaks are better.

With PPAs, inevitably some repo that hasn’t been updated since 2015 causes dependency conflicts and you have to sit there and troubleshoot, or pick between the software you need and actually having an OS that’s not EOL. With snaps, you can keep your decade old dependencies all bundled up and still upgrade your system even if the package maintainer has abandoned it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The issue people have with snaps isn't the containerization or the bundles, but the proprietary backend. There is no way to point the snaps at a different store other than the one canonical controls. Canonicals forcing snaps on people pisses a lot of people off because it's a blatant power grab, an attempt to get people dependent on something they have control over in a microsoft-esque move. Flatpaks and docker don't have that issue.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You know what, enough is enough. Snaps run like shit in my system (IDK/DC why), I hate companies forcing their shit down my throat, and I was planning a clean reinstall anyway from Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04. Might as well use the opportunity to go back to Debian. Or Mint. Or Mint Debian Edition. Who knows.

Next on the news, Ubuntu ("humanity") gets renamed to Amasimba ("shit"). /s

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

After using it since Lucid Lynx 10.04, I switched from Ubuntu to Mint last weekend. I'm lazy about distros these days, and I really didn't want to switch, but Firefox instability was driving me nuts. The web browser must be reliable, IMO. It's a fundamental requirement for a desktop OS, and this problem didn't exist before snaps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There are several high quality community run distributions which aren't beholden to corporate tools.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Imagine having to fight your OS to do what you want. True Windows experience.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's no wonder Canonical is partnering up with Microsoft to EEE Linux

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like the approach Pop OS takes. Their software store lets you choose between deb or flatpak when you install software. I've had issues with flatpak versions of some software, and flipping to the deb package usually fixes it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

@Linuturk @PseudoSpock My problem here is that I don't understand the purpose of flatpak when Deb seems to have everything from my experience, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  1. Flatpaks are usually fresher than point release distro packages
  2. Flatpaks are distro-agnostic
  3. Flatpaks are easily containerized for increased security and privacy
  4. Flatpaks can guarantee you have a known-good dependency chain directly tested by the developers/maintainers themselves
  5. Flatpaks can be installed and managed entirely in userspace
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
  1. Some software is on the Flathub instead of on Debian's repos, so sometimes the choice is between Flatpak, AppImage and Snap.
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@bear
Thank you for the very clean and clear explanation. I'll have to give them another chance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

When a project doesn't publish a deb or other native package, or when the flatpak is much newer and has features you need.