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If I avoid using/installing Snap packages, do I avoid the security issues the author is alluding to in his post?

No. It was already possible for any X11 application to do this. Some people interpreted snap as providing additional protection against this, but it does not. Fixing it requires switching from X11 to another display server with a better security model, such as Wayland or Mir.

And, IIRC, Wayland isn't ready for primetime yet. Thanks for replying. I guess I'll stick to updates through good old apt then.

From elsewhere i have learned that there are a couple of ways to "harden" X.

http://www.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/Security/ is one.

Another is to run each program inside their own "server", via xnest, xephyr or similar.

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