16

Will I still be able to use installed snap apps without any limitations, except perhaps the update feature?
Xubuntu 20.04lts

1
  • 1
    You haven't provided any release details, and your question seems vague to me, however recent Lubuntu & Kubuntu releases don't include the GNOME/Ubuntu Software store (snap store) without any ill-effects. They both include by default Discover as their program store, and muon as the package manager; no effects there.
    – guiverc
    May 26, 2020 at 7:29

2 Answers 2

16

You will be able to continue using your existing snaps.

They will refresh (update) normally.

You can use the command-line to install more snaps, remove existing ones, and, generally, do most everything, if not more, than if you used the snap store.

man snap is worth reading carefully.

You can also visit the snap store "online": https://snapcraft.io/store

For managing your regular software, use the command-line or install Synaptic Package Manager (sudo apt update, sudo apt full-upgrade and sudo apt install synaptic) and use that.


Edit:

One convenience the snap store installed on your system offers is that of modifying the permissions you wish a snap to use (from the set of permissions the developer has made available).

Take the example of the okular snap. On the snap store's page for okular, there's a Permissions button (assuming that the okular snap is installed). Clicking on it produces the GUI in the image below:

Permissions GUI

You can easily change any of the permissions available but you'll obviously need to provide your password when prompted.

You can view the existing permissions via the terminal using snap connections okular. For convenience, I modified the command and trimmed the output width a bit:

$ snap connections | grep -E "(Interface|okular)" | nl
1     Interface                                     Plug                          Slot                 Notes
2     content[kde-frameworks-5-qt-5-14-core18-all]  okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug  kde-frameworks-5 ... -
3     desktop                                       okular:desktop                :desktop             -
4     desktop-legacy                                okular:desktop-legacy         :desktop-legacy      -
5     home                                          okular:home                   :home                -
6     unity7                                        okular:unity7                 :unity7              -
7     x11                                           okular:x11                    :x11                 -
$                                                                                                  

Then, I changed a permission to allow the snap to access removable media via the GUI as shown below:

Modified permissions

For comparison, I ran the same terminal command again:

$ snap connections | grep -E "(Interface|okular)" | nl                                             
1     Interface                                     Plug                          Slot                 Notes
2     content[kde-frameworks-5-qt-5-14-core18-all]  okular:kde-frameworks-5-plug  kde-frameworks-5 ... -
3     desktop                                       okular:desktop                :desktop             -
4     desktop-legacy                                okular:desktop-legacy         :desktop-legacy      -
5     home                                          okular:home                   :home                -
6     removable-media                               okular:removable-media        :removable-media     manual
7     unity7                                        okular:unity7                 :unity7              -
8     x11                                           okular:x11                    :x11                 -
$ 

There is now an additional line relating to removable media with "manual" in the Notes column.

If we want to, for example, undo the permission we just granted, man snap tells us we need to use disconnect and the formula suggested is snap disconnect <snap>:<plug> <snap>:<slot> (with sudo) but what worked for me is

sudo snap disconnect okular:removable-media

The change was immediately seen by running snap connections | grep -E "(Interface|okular)" | nl with a return to just seven lines of output.

The snap store reflected the change after logging out and back in!

1
  • Ooo, I didn't notice the "Permissions" button... Thanks! May 26, 2020 at 20:53
2

I uninstalled snap store from my Ubuntu 20.04 and I can still use the apps that already had, but they must be launched from Terminal because they don't appear on the installed apps list and the icon on my desktop also disappeared.

You can then solve the new issue by consulting this.

3
  • So this solves the problem and then creates another one, right? May 27, 2020 at 20:45
  • 1
    @ThunderBird This can be solved: askubuntu.com/q/1237377/480481
    – pomsky
    May 28, 2020 at 7:03
  • @pomsky I have thus edited the answer to contain that link... It wasn't obvious. Thanks :) May 28, 2020 at 19:56

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .