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I am using (xubuntu) 22.04.1 LTS, and I am curious about what snap is and what is it for? I have used previous versions of Ubuntu, but I've never seen anything about snap before.

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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_(software)
    – Pilot6
    Oct 23, 2022 at 18:04
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    Snap packages has existed since 16.04. Oct 23, 2022 at 18:17
  • The snap only products (using the format year) have existed since 2016, ie. Ubuntu Core 16 is the snap only specialist server product based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Server (the year.month products handle both deb and snap packages from 16.04) eg. look here cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/16.04/release/… and you'll see it was included in Xubuntu 16.04 LTS (search for snap) with it in beta but not included in 2015. Snap infrastructure has been included for years, snap packages are more recent for some flavors like Xubuntu/Lubuntu/..
    – guiverc
    Oct 24, 2022 at 1:46

2 Answers 2

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Snap, like FlatPak and AppImage, and similar to Windows' PortableApps, is an attempt to make package installation, de-installation, and dependency management painfully easy. It packs the program and all its dependencies into a single bundle that runs more-or-less independent of the rest of the OS and all other programs.

Some love it because it does effectively eliminate "dependency hell". Some hate it, complaining about how slow (relative to conventional installations) it is and how badly it adds to system bloat. I fall into neither camp, but one of the first things I do upon installing Ubuntu is purging snap from the system. (I don't use FlatPak either, but I have a few AppImages in /opt because I'm either trying them out or because I love the application, can't get it in a .deb, and don't want to install from source.)

EDIT: I overlooked one of the points of snap and similar package formats: the intent of providing (like Java used to) a "write once, run anywhere" package. Programmers, they promise, will no longer have to create packages for half a dozen different package managers; they can create one "universal" package and it'll install on any distro that supports it. And of that idea I am a fan. (Like self-checkout, though, I think it's a great idea but it doesn't work well enough for everyday use yet.)

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  • Thank you for the info.
    – massasauga
    Dec 12, 2022 at 19:40
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It's been around since 16.04 as @Artur Meinild mentioned in comment since Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (including flavors. eg. look here at the manifest of Xubuntu 16.04.6 LTS and you'll see it present - https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/16.04/release/xubuntu-16.04.6-desktop-i386.manifest

Snap infrastructure has been included for years (on media since 2016), snap packages are more recent for some flavors like Xubuntu/Lubuntu/.. (but not all flavors or all releases)

ie. if you install 16.04, 18.04 or 20.04 with some flavors of Ubuntu, and entered the snap list command you'd get the message like the following

$ snap list
No snaps are installed yet.

(the message will vary on system & when run, it may suggest installing a sample package such as hello-world)

The snap only products of Ubuntu (using the format year) have existed since 2016, ie. Ubuntu Core 16 is the snap only specialist server product based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Server (the year.month products handle both deb and snap packages from 16.04), so snapd or snap packages have been with us for many years, even if noticed by many users.

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  • Thank you for the info.
    – massasauga
    Dec 12, 2022 at 19:39

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