The snap thing makes me want to switch distro (for work) from ubuntu. Unfortunately we have some benefits from using ubuntu as the common platform for less divergence from each other
But, unless I'm missing something about latest or future releases, isn't it still optional? Can't you use apt instead and uninstall snapd altogether?
I'd agree that needing to uninstall instead of opt-in is an annoyance, and that user-hostile actions tend to be a slippery slope..
There seem to be more and more things that are only delivered as snaps.
I haven't used Ubuntu on the desktop in a while (and even then, it was just trying it out), but I remember that trying to apt install <something> would say "use the snap". I think LXD is in that case, for example.
I'm on Ubuntu, and of all the software I use (I count around 20 programs installed not through the Ubuntu apt repositories), fortunately only two are available only on snaps - Chromium and Subsync. The first actually accelerated my move to Firefox.
Regarding Subsync, I had to write a ridicolous script to start/stop all the snap services - ridicolous because Snap has an integrity service that overwrites any change to the Snap system (!!), so one can't even hack the Snap system files without disabling such service. It actually gets worse - Ubuntu has a relatively tight intergration with snap: one can't have the `snapd` serviced disabled (without hacks), because the Ubuntu software upgrade invokes it if present, and if it's disabled, the upgrade will hang.
If Ubuntu will force more software to go through Snap, I'll abandon it (after many, many years).
For VSCode I managed to download a deb from their site IIRC, but from apt it only suggests to download from snap.
VScode wasn't as bad, as it usually seemed to work (but maybe flaky plugins were actually caused by snap?) but it was certainly annoying to lose the ability to switch between windows of the same app (alt+~, I think this was a custom setting to resemble mac) if the latest window/project was opened as a new version of the app (alt+tab)
Every other day it blows away all my open tabs and whatever I had going on in them.
I have a bunch of random tabs open, some with essentially "unsaved work", like shopping carts which may be the result of an hour of research, editing files in web interfaces like github or fluidd (web interface to a 3d printer) ... and randomly once every day or 3, I'll go to touch anything, any button in any of those tabs, like edit that config file some more, or try to save it... and kablooey, "firefox needs to restart" and I lose everything I had going.
This is a new thing that didn't used to happen.
Apparently the snap teams response to this story would be "Don't use FF like that."
The issue here is that the apt update changes firefox program files underneath it which needs a restart. Afaik, using the mozilla release directly is the only solution for this where the program files are changed only after exit.
Edit: This has become more common nowadays due to multiple point releases close to each other, to fix some important bug.
Maybe not what you want exactly but there are controls and claiming otherwise is misleading.
https://snapcraft.io/docs/keeping-snaps-up-to-date#heading--...
Running sid is an option, but the amount of fiddly Debian magic you end up needing to learn when it breaks is IME not smaller than the effort of setting up a mostly-unpatched rolling-release like Arch (and I’m sure there are other options). Given that e.g. Arch’s packaging is simple enough it’s no big deal to package even your personal collection of handy scripts (and so the system does not develop funny-looking mold and bits of mystery food all over the place), I don’t really see the point. Just don’t update it when you’re on a deadline.
You can see that my arguments here are to a great extent a matter of preference and personal circumstances, though: do you have a reliable Internet connection for troubleshooting? do you prefer a more solid system that you have to fight and that fails badly but rarely or a less solid one that fails more often but in small ways? does getting locked out of the graphical environment every couple of years count as small?
(Offer not applicable on machines with cursed hardware like nVidia or Broadcom.)
the other subtlety is that security updates come later to testing than they do to either stable or sid, but this can be mitigated: https://gist.github.com/khimaros/21db936fa7885360f7bfe7f116b...
Debian or Fedora should become the new default recommendation. Debian probably fits better for novices, since Fedora doesn't have non-free packages out of the box.
Even from day one, forking Debian and breaking a bunch of packages as they went off on their own, then years later going oops how do we fix this Daddy Debian? Adding Amazon to their search by default in Unity initially. Creating a new desktop protocol to replace X11 rather than work with the Wayland teams so they could rush to ship their phone that nobody wanted.
Canonical is just a good marketing company. They want to do things their way and screw over as many Linux developers as they can to get their way.
For work, keep in mind that Fedora defaults to SELinux and a firewall. That's is a huge bonus when approaching IT about a switch.
Plus, if you're OK with using a TPM, you can also get waking up from hibernation without having to enter type in your password.
Source: been doing exactly that (without the TPM part) on a laptop for a few years, and it just worked like a charm. No hoop-jumping involved or anything.
I went over the blog post, and it looks like it's a PITA to enable because they went out of their way to make it so by using a weird partition scheme. I've never installed pop OS, but according to that blog they're using LVM on LUKS, which should work fairly well.
> but as far as I know no distro does this correctly by default on an encrypted drive.
What does "correctly" mean here? On my previous laptop I had arch installed on ext4 on LVM on LUKS. Therefore, the swap was on the same LVM. Aside from having to manually set the "resume" kernel parameter, I never had to do anything, and it just worked.
Not only did it take multiple days for them to respond (me without laptop), their resolution was to attach an invoice for one despite me asking for two. I didn't want to open a new ticket so I just looked online for an AC that had the same voltage/amp/etc and head, then ordered three. I have multiple desks...
The three arrived approximately a week before the one they sent out.
Also, you can't actually open these the way they've glued them shut inside by attaching the heatsink to the outer case. Might be a manufacturing defect but definitely can't open mine after unscrewing the bottom.
Never buying a System76 laptop again after this thing dies.