It looks like Kubuntu 22.04 won't support the deb version of Firefox.

[GreyGeek]

... It really seems (see the last posts in the thread) that systemd-analyze does not tell anything like the truth on boot time, and snaps do not affect it. Not according to a stopwatch, they don't.
...

Interesting that you should mention that. Earlier today, while I was configuring neon v steam things on my Neon install, I rebooted and after I entered my password on the login screen I noticed an unusually long wait time till the desktop appeared. When I did the systemd-analyze thing it gave me a total time of 6.3 seconds. Examining the journalctl -b 0 I noticed a time gap of 25 seconds between my entering my password and the desktop displaying. Very unusual. 99% of the time that command gives a good approximation of the time. In reality, the POST test takes about 25-30 seconds and then my laptop boots into the login screen. The 25 additional seconds after that had never happened before. I could turn off the POST test in BIOS and have 6 second bootups from power on to a working desktop, but this laptop is 9 years old, so I am not going to boot without a POST test.

[jglen490]

Not a big deal to me, I just don't use them

[SuperSapien64]

I just really hope Kubuntu 22.04 will have the deb version of Firefox and Thunderbird available.

[claydoh]

I just really hope Kubuntu 22.04 will have the deb version of Firefox and Thunderbird available.

Unfortunately, since Kubuntu only packages Plasma and KDE things, they will be using whatever Ubuntu provides. Or in this case, whatever Mozilla provides
A web browser is the poster child for containerization, so I personally have no issue with it, in this very specific case.

I imagine there will be alternatives providing debs, if you trust whoever is making them.

[Don B. Cilly]

Well... I have snaps enabled on this laptop.
It's four years old. Bought it used for 120€. Boots in about 20 seconds. I reboot it maybe once a week. I can live with that :·)

I don't quite see what the problem might be, with snaps. They make disk space reporting ugly? I have alias dfh='df -hx squashfs -x tmpfs'.
And for serious disk space information I use ncdu anyway :·)

[Beerislife]

Right now I mainly use Firefox but do occasionally use Chrome. If FF becomes Snap only, I'll use it to download Chrome and then remove it and Snap from my system. Problem solved, and Mozilla loses more users.

[SuperSapien64]

Unfortunately, since Kubuntu only packages Plasma and KDE things, they will be using whatever Ubuntu provides. Or in this case, whatever Mozilla provides
A web browser is the poster child for containerization, so I personally have no issue with it, in this very specific case.

I imagine there will be alternatives providing debs, if you trust whoever is making them.

I just tried the daily build of Ubuntu 22.04 in a VM and I still see the deb version is still available for Firefox but the default version is the Snap version. Though the finally release of Ubuntu 22.04 is over two months from now, Who knows what might change between now and then?

[Don B. Cilly]

... and then remove it and Snap from my system. Problem solved

OK, but, why? I'd really like to understand.

[claydoh]

I just tried the daily build of Ubuntu 22.04 in a VM and I still see the deb version is still available for Firefox but the default version is the Snap version. Though the finally release of Ubuntu 22.04 is over two months from now, Who knows what might change between now and then?

Ubuntu have not fully made this move. They haven't reached the feature-freeze milestone as of yet, so the deb is still present. At some point the deb, if they keep it for distro upgradability, it will work as it does for Chromium: it simply installs the Snap.

[jglen490]

I see that Ubuntu is no longer interested in hearing about users who do not want SNAP packages. Since July 2019.

Just a thought, but system wide executables do not belong in /home. User specific configs for those system wide executables DO belong there. So where does Ubuntu plan on installing something like a SNAP-based Firefox?

[SuperSapien64]

Its nonsense because Linux Mint is sticking with deb for Firefox and Thunderbird. Also it looks like Flatpacks are winning the universal packaging wars.

https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4244

[Beerislife]

OK, but, why? I'd really like to understand.

I don't want or need Snap or even Flatpak on MY system. It's a personal choice. If Ubuntu force these unneeded package formats down our throats then I will move to another distro (Endeavour KDE)

[Don B. Cilly]

I don't want or need Snap or even Flatpak on MY system.

OK. But why? ;·) Just what is it that you dislike about snaps?

[jlittle]

I don't want or need Snap or even Flatpak on MY system. It's a personal choice. If Ubuntu force these unneeded package formats down our throats then I will move to another distro (Endeavour KDE)

"unneeded" - perspectives vary a lot on that; do you help with the work of packaging any software?

I'm sure you'll be able to get .debs for most of the software you care about. The price you'll pay is slower updates. And you'll always be able, in principle, to build any of it from source.

[Beerislife]

All of the apps I need are available as normal packages in he repos and one or two from PPAs. My Handbrake version is slightly older but I no longer have need for it. qBittoreeent is also slightly behind but I rarely use it these days so it doesn't matter.

I'm now looking at Endeavour OS on my old Thinkpad which is currently running Mint Cinnamon... We're a re back in a quasi state of emergency here so I may close up shop for a while and install it and see if I like it better than Neon...