8 ms·

From an IT perspective: I can set up an internal APT mirror for my users, servers, test systems, etc., but I can't set up an internal snap mirror as far as I c

From an IT perspective: I can set up an internal APT mirror for my users, servers, test systems, etc., but I can't set up an internal snap mirror as far as I can tell. This means that despite having an internal repo that I can whitelist, some package installations will now arbitrarily require internet access. I can no longer install chromium on a system without access to the internet, and package installation will fail as a result. I'd rather have an older version than a snap version, personally, but better would be two packages which Provides: the same chromium-browser, chromium and chromium-snap. The most irritating thing here is that they're using a package distribution system which handles dependencies and updates flawlessly, and has for decades, and using it to install things using a package system which does not solve those problems, and instead ships multiple copies of multiple libraries and applications, which run slower, ignoring any settings I have in APT. So far, it's a maintenance nightmare, and I loathe it.

loopz 6y ago
Snap can't seem to access my mounts. They're not very special mounts, but it happens in linux that you mount something, but snap just won't access. That made "no-go" a no-brainer.
- personalcompute 6y ago
  I have the same problem. Snaps are confined to only files within $HOME. I keep almost all data under /media/ and this caused snaps to be mostly unusable for me, at least unusable for productivity apps where I need to process data. Some apps though are self contained, e.g. Spotify, for example, works fine for me as a snap. The limitation stems from a design problem, details at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1643706 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1643706.
  - silon42 6y ago
    Yup. There needs to be considerable work to integrate snaps from completely sandboxed (no access to file system/network/hardware), to giving them controlled access to some resources, managed/monitored by root and/or user.
  - lokedhs 6y ago
    There is also a problem where snapd fails if your home directory isn't called /home/username (i.e. if it's located in a different path). At this point snap sounds like a bad joke to me. Especially when Flatpak already exists. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1662552 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1662552
- totetsu 6y ago
  For the longest time Snap chromium couldn't access files it had downloaded. So I would click to open a pdf when it was completed and get an error. I had to go whitelist my home dir in some config somewhere ..
tankenmate 6y ago
You might want to look at ungoogled-chromium,[0] there are downloads for most non Windows platforms. Also packages are available in repos for apt/deb, yum/rpm, etc. [0] https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium
- waon 6y ago
  That wouldn't solve the root of the problem, though. The real solution would be to use other distros. Besides, there are quality concerns with browser forks maintained by an understaffed project. The fact that ungoogled-chromium asks for internet randos to provide its own binary releases doesn't inspire confidence either. If someone desperately needs to use Ubuntu, they'd be better off using Firefox.
foxylad 6y ago
There is a big user issue on top of the philosophical and maintenance issues - snaps are SLOOOOOOW. I've only experienced them with two applications, and both took forever to startup compared to the apt-get installed versions I quickly replaced them with. OK, "forever" is hyperbole - it was probably about 5 seconds. But it was enough of an annoyance for me to figure out how to install a deb packaged version. And every user having to wait an extra 5 seconds every time they open an app aggregates to a lot more time than Canonical saves maintaining packages. That doesn't sit right with me, so my next OS upgrade will be Mint or pure Debian. I've been with Ubuntu since Dapper Drake, and I'd like to thank Canonical for making great distros all that time. But I'm not going to follow you down the snap-only path, time for me to move on.
- flukus 6y ago
  A little while ago I discovered snaps can be slow even when you're not using them. I had the fun of trying to log into an online job interview and couldn't because snapd was hogging the CPU doing god knows what. Restarted and the same happened, the machine became usable about 20 minutes later. Little "surprises" like that are infuriating. > so my next OS upgrade will be Mint or pure Debian I've moved one machine to debian stable and haven't looked back. There are a few teething issues like /usr/sbin not being in the default path, some sudo issues, the installer isn't as grandma friendly, but it's rock solid and doesn't nag me about updating 137 packages of things I've never heard of needing an update.
- dcow 6y ago
  Sending some encouragement your way: try Debian. I bet money you won't even notice it's not Ubuntu. Or you will, because your software will launch when you ask it to. I'm super happy with Debian lately. I know it used to be the old neck beard slow and steady distro, but honestly these days packages get updates rather timely and it doesn't feel like the Debian of 10 years ago. And you can always run Debian testing with almost no overhead if you want the shinnies. That's what I do and have only had to deal with gnome not starting after a reboot once XD
  - caro_douglos 6y ago

loopz 6y ago

Snap can't seem to access my mounts. They're not very special mounts, but it happens in linux that you mount something, but snap just won't access. That made "no-go" a no-brainer.

personalcompute 6y ago
I have the same problem. Snaps are confined to only files within $HOME. I keep almost all data under /media/ and this caused snaps to be mostly unusable for me, at least unusable for productivity apps where I need to process data. Some apps though are self contained, e.g. Spotify, for example, works fine for me as a snap. The limitation stems from a design problem, details at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1643706 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1643706.
- silon42 6y ago
  Yup. There needs to be considerable work to integrate snaps from completely sandboxed (no access to file system/network/hardware), to giving them controlled access to some resources, managed/monitored by root and/or user.
- lokedhs 6y ago
  There is also a problem where snapd fails if your home directory isn't called /home/username (i.e. if it's located in a different path). At this point snap sounds like a bad joke to me. Especially when Flatpak already exists. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1662552 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd/+bug/1662552
totetsu 6y ago
For the longest time Snap chromium couldn't access files it had downloaded. So I would click to open a pdf when it was completed and get an error. I had to go whitelist my home dir in some config somewhere ..

tankenmate 6y ago

You might want to look at ungoogled-chromium,[0] there are downloads for most non Windows platforms. Also packages are available in repos for apt/deb, yum/rpm, etc. [0] https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium

waon 6y ago
That wouldn't solve the root of the problem, though. The real solution would be to use other distros. Besides, there are quality concerns with browser forks maintained by an understaffed project. The fact that ungoogled-chromium asks for internet randos to provide its own binary releases doesn't inspire confidence either. If someone desperately needs to use Ubuntu, they'd be better off using Firefox.

foxylad 6y ago

There is a big user issue on top of the philosophical and maintenance issues - snaps are SLOOOOOOW. I've only experienced them with two applications, and both took forever to startup compared to the apt-get installed versions I quickly replaced them with. OK, "forever" is hyperbole - it was probably about 5 seconds. But it was enough of an annoyance for me to figure out how to install a deb packaged version. And every user having to wait an extra 5 seconds every time they open an app aggregates to a lot more time than Canonical saves maintaining packages. That doesn't sit right with me, so my next OS upgrade will be Mint or pure Debian. I've been with Ubuntu since Dapper Drake, and I'd like to thank Canonical for making great distros all that time. But I'm not going to follow you down the snap-only path, time for me to move on.

flukus 6y ago
A little while ago I discovered snaps can be slow even when you're not using them. I had the fun of trying to log into an online job interview and couldn't because snapd was hogging the CPU doing god knows what. Restarted and the same happened, the machine became usable about 20 minutes later. Little "surprises" like that are infuriating. > so my next OS upgrade will be Mint or pure Debian I've moved one machine to debian stable and haven't looked back. There are a few teething issues like /usr/sbin not being in the default path, some sudo issues, the installer isn't as grandma friendly, but it's rock solid and doesn't nag me about updating 137 packages of things I've never heard of needing an update.
dcow 6y ago
Sending some encouragement your way: try Debian. I bet money you won't even notice it's not Ubuntu. Or you will, because your software will launch when you ask it to. I'm super happy with Debian lately. I know it used to be the old neck beard slow and steady distro, but honestly these days packages get updates rather timely and it doesn't feel like the Debian of 10 years ago. And you can always run Debian testing with almost no overhead if you want the shinnies. That's what I do and have only had to deal with gnome not starting after a reboot once XD
- caro_douglos 6y ago