Discussion of ways to improve snap

I know that snaps can be a controversial topic, but I want to discuss some ways that snap can be improved so that they work better for everyone.

My list:

  • A tool like Flatseal. For the uninitiated, Flatseal is an app that allows the user to configure the sandboxing of an app to their liking. For example, I could give an app to a specific folder and nothing else. This isn’t something that’s possible with snap. I only have the option to give snaps access to my entire home and my entire removable drives.

  • More use of portals. With the flatpak versions of Amberol and Celluloid, I can simply open a file and it will play, even the location is outside of the sandbox of the apps. And that’s because they make good use of portals. However, that’s not the case with the snapped versions. The files must be in the sandbox, which requires the snaps to have access to my entire home and removable drives.

  • Ability to report apps in Snap Store for non-malicious reasons. There’s a lot of abandoned snaps on the Store that haven’t been updated in years, may only have an edge branch, or explicitly tells the user not to use them. Being able to report them and have moderators remove them would help with the quality of the store

9 Likes

My suggestion is quite simple: move the desktop segment of apps to flatpak (perhaps with flathub, or with your own repository, if you want control it), and leave services/systems/IoT as snap

Snap had too many disadvantages at the start for desktop apps and some of them are still there, while flatpak either didn’t have them or hasn’t had them for a long time

At the same time, this way you can contribute to flatpak being the standard for desktop app delivery, thus reducing fragmentation even here in universal app packaging formats.

While @that_leaflet made a bunch of pretty constructive suggestions in the original post, I don’t think the intention was to stir up another flatpak vs snap discussion and given how often it has now been stated that we’ll stick with snaps I don’t think “throw it away” in the light of the upcoming snap-only desktop release is very constructive either…

Please help making snaps better instead…

7 Likes

I really think all those 3 are great suggestions!

2 Likes

Really good constructive feedback @that_leaflet!

1 Like