AppImage vs Deb vs Snap

[CharlieDaves]

So for the third time in several days, I've come across the following "installation" terms.

AppImage
DEB - Good old fashion package installation. Easy to use.... BUT SHOULD I USE IT ?
SNAP - Firefox 7 Thunderbird are listed as a SNAP installation.

And Synaptic Package Manager still wants to "remove" Firefox snapd"

Should I remove FF snapd ??
Should I install a DEB or is that not recommended 24.04 and future?

I ask as I am seeing a lot of these comments about SNAP packages when looking for information on problems I've either posted here, or managed to figure out myself and not posted about.

Thanks

[tenplus1]

I specifically remove snapd and block it from re-install and instead use the official Firefox .deb which works perfecfly on my system

[Virginio Miranda]

I use to use snap, flatpack, deb and sometimes AppImage. No problem at all.

[CharlieDaves]

@ tenplus1
Is there a difference between snapd and snap ? If yes, what is it please (Noob version)
@ Virginio Miranda
Are you saying that it doesn't matter what I use ?
I ask as AppImage asked "what to use" to install...

[tenplus1]

CharlieDaves - snap is the container name the app uses, snapd is the library it uses to run those apps, and in my opinion native .deb apps run better in a distro using system themes and settings properly.

[CharlieDaves]

CharlieDaves - snap is the container name the app uses, snapd is the library it uses to run those apps, and in my opinion native .deb apps run better in a distro using system themes and settings properly.

Kool... Stick with deb
Thanks tenplus1

[Virginio Miranda]

@ tenplus1
Is there a difference between snapd and snap ? If yes, what is it please (Noob version)
@ Virginio Miranda
Are you saying that it doesn't matter what I use ?
I ask as AppImage asked "what to use" to install...

No. I didn't mean it doesn't matter.

What I said was that I use them and I have no problems with it.

Obviously there is a reason for me. In the case of snap for example, I prefer to use them in some cases, because there is a developer who packages the programs in snap and maintains them properly (security for example), and I don't have to worry about it. Naturally there are certain limitations for snap programs, but as long as they serve me for what I need, I don't really worry if it's like snap.

In the case of .deb, the reason is that sometimes, out of necessity, there is no program for the version of the distro I use (Kubuntu), so I go with .deb. Likewise, also flatpack.

[CharlieDaves]

I think I am following... my main problem has always been updates.
Back in v18 It started. I would do a weekly update && upgrade, then stuff happens like font changes, or the system removes some older version of KDE-something...
I love the look and feel of KDE 4 ICONS
I saw the newer version of "notification copy/move" with its tiny little progress LINE....
My screen went super small under 24.04... As in I really need a magnifier... The default fonts LOOKED like 6pt font, in other software situations, etc

I mainly asked as Firefox still would not update under 22.04 regardless of what I did..... After the upgrade to 24.04 still wouldn't update. Finally it did, as a SNAP.
Then Synaptic Manager complained about some thing about removing of snapd or snap. I don't remember.... then I didn't have firefox or thunderbird at all.
Even after re-installing them via Synaptic, there was or is some error message about removing it... It was becoming very frustrating about what this new package manager wanted or was trying to do.

Hence my question....

[jlittle]

The main reason that snaps, flatpaks, and AppImages exist is that maintaining all the APT repos for each distro became onerous.

... in my opinion native .deb apps run better in a distro using system themes and settings properly.

But the waters are muddied by the practice that installing the firefox (and thunderbird IIRC) .deb app from the Ubuntu repos gets a stub that just installs the snap. Some folks set up the Mozilla Team .deb repo to get a real .deb firefox; I found that repo far too slow at times to be practical (and in principle the Mozilla Team version might be less stable than the snap version, but I never noticed and I've heard no reports).

Now I see from the Install Firefox on Linux support page that they have an APT repo that should be the latest stable version, and should perform well. I haven't tried it; a downside would be having to re-enable the repo at release upgrade time.

I installed firefox from "Download for Linux 64-bit". This gives a tarball (a .tar.gz file) that has to be installed somewhat manually. I really like it because the update mechanism is very fast; it often down loads few kilobytes instead of nearly 100 MB.

Some of us don't like snaps. There's lots of reasons:

• They used to be slow to start, but that has improved.
• The snap store is controlled by Canonical and is not open source.
• The snap sandboxing, theming, and integration and so on is another set of things that can go wrong (well, that's my perspective)
• The snapd daemon and its stuff adds several GB, 10 to 15, to the OS install, and those GB are updated frequently. I begrudged the space taken up on my incremental backups, costing me time, and money to get more storage for them.
• Flatpaks have similar benefits and many prefer them.

So, there's a bunch of users that "de-snap", purging the snap subsystem. See the threads here on KFN.

[CharlieDaves]

The main reason that snaps, flatpaks, and AppImages exist is that maintaining all the APT repos for each distro became onerous.

I can see why. I actually mis-typed but Synaptic isn't apt installing. It's dpkg installing...

But the waters are muddied by the practice that installing the firefox (and thunderbird IIRC) .deb app from the Ubuntu repos gets a stub that just installs the snap. Some folks set up the Mozilla Team .deb repo to get a real .deb firefox; I found that repo far too slow at times to be practical (and in principle the Mozilla Team version might be less stable than the snap version, but I never noticed and I've heard no reports).

Sorry ?? IIRC?? You mean IRC/.............. Also I have a vague memory of NOT installing .deb files, as it is not integrated into the system based installer...

Now I see from the Install Firefox on Linux support page that they have an APT repo that should be the latest stable version, and should perform well. I haven't tried it; a downside would be having to re-enable the repo at release upgrade time.
I installed firefox from "Download for Linux 64-bit". This gives a tarball (a .tar.gz file) that has to be installed somewhat manually. I really like it because the update mechanism is very fast; it often down loads few kilobytes instead of nearly 100 MB.

Thanks for the link.
Well that sounds really stupid... But I think I commented somewhere about even after upgrade to 24.04 && getting FF upgrade-updated, Synaptic PM still wanted to remove FF snapd...
Another problem was BlueDevil. MY PC is so old it doesn't understand Bluetooth. I tried to remove Bluedevil but it also wanted to remove 'Kubuntu-Destop'. Fully intergrated or just a software Sources stuff up...

Some of us don't like snaps. There's lots of reasons:

• They used to be slow to start, but that has improved.
• The snap store is controlled by Canonical and is not open source.
• The snap sandboxing, theming, and integration and so on is another set of things that can go wrong (well, that's my perspective)
• The snapd daemon and its stuff adds several GB, 10 to 15, to the OS install, and those GB are updated frequently. I begrudged the space taken up on my incremental backups, costing me time, and money to get more storage for them.
• Flatpaks have similar benefits and many prefer them.

So, there's a bunch of users that "de-snap", purging the snap subsystem. See the threads here on KFN.

Slow + restricted = no way for me...
snapd daemon sounds like a major problem... Has it been reported ?
Still not fully understanding Flatpaks.... I think I'm getting the idea of it.

It would like comparing a PPA to .deb or a Muon installation... Just a different method of selecting, getting and installing software.
Yes / No

Also do these different things know about the others. Sort of follow on question to snapd daemon needing a frequent purge ?
Thanks jlittle

[jlittle]

snapd daemon sounds like a major problem... Has it been reported ?

There has been much er... discussion in recent years. But perhaps you are talking about snapd being removed by Synaptic; that doesn't sound good. Whether there's an underlying identifiable problem that could be reported I've little idea. snapd problems and 22.04 would be too old for attention, I think.

[CharlieDaves]

Thanks jlittle and others.

Bottom Line this please, since there is mention of possible 'issues'

As a noob level person, who likes the

Click 'N Install

Method, along with the

Plug 'N Pray

of hardware

I should use and stick with muon Package Manager
Or
Other