Snap or Flatpak?

dolly · 2022-11-06 09:24:22

Is there any reason to choose one of them over the other? Advantages, and, or disadvantages?

I just intend to install a couple of applications for practical reasons with one of them. Simply because I like to keep my sources list clean and out of trouble.

Anything else to consider?

I have read some articles about it of course, but wanted to hear with you guys before deciding. And I do have some experience with snaps from Ubuntu, so the easiest would probably be to go with that.

Last edited by dolly (2022-11-06 10:40:58)

unklar · 2022-11-06 14:17:53

I can't say much about Snap.
I only know that I avoided it in the end, because mainly ubuntu has/had to do with it and I, except for the German Wiki, have nothing to do with it. In addition, I had noticed that some distributions then again refrained from it because they did not agree with the package update policy of ubuntu.
But I can't prove that now with appropriate links.

I came across Flatpak about 2 months ago in connection with Warpinator (a simple tool from the Mint repo's for data exchange between Android/Smartfones and Linux computers in their own home network).

First experiences with siduction were all positive, while bullseye/lilidog/BL all went to shit. Therefore, the opinion has solidified with me, before bookworm you do not need to start with the package flatpak in Debian. So, in any case from the repo's of Debian.

sleekmason · 2022-11-06 16:28:35

dolly wrote:

Anything else to consider?

Might we know what packages you are looking for? There may be other ways. For instance, MX Linux frequently has .debs for different programs one might not expect otherwise.

el_koraco · 2022-11-06 22:14:14

I only ever installed a flatpak once, and there were some snaps preinstalled on Ubuntu. I think flatpaks run slightly better, less lag and so on, but Canonical might have mproved the snaps by now.

dolly · 2022-11-09 14:27:39

I plan to use it for Spotify and some social media. If I install the native Spotify deb I have to add it to my source list (which i prefer to keep as clean as possible) and my experience is that it is a bit buggy from time to time. The Spotify snap worked quite well on Ubuntu for me so I thought it would be worth a try here on BL.

And it is convenient to have the Discord app for that instead of Firefox and there are some other social media stuff that I am interested in checking out.

Thanks for the MX Linux tip @sleekmason.

dolly · 2022-11-10 11:13:54

Yesterday evening I decided to stop overthink this matter. I can just rm the whole thing if turns out to not work as good as I am hoping for or if it surprises me with problems.

Yes, I took the easy way out and installed snap since I have some experience with it from Ubuntu. Spotify is first out and works well so far.

If one should install the Firefox snap, could that be a conflict with the ESR Firefox?

PackRat · 2022-11-10 16:07:52

dolly wrote:

If one should install the Firefox snap, could that be a conflict with the ESR Firefox?

I think so because they both use ~/.mozilla for their config files and there are some conflicts there. As I recall, you can get around the conflict by creating a separate profile for firefox (assuming you're already running firefox-esr) from the start. Check the Firefox FAQ page, the whole setup may be explained there.

dolly · 2022-11-10 22:38:43

Thanks @PackRat that seems logical. Will keep it in mind. The Discord app installed and functioned well without any surprises. And by the way, I decided to drop the "snap-store" part when I installed snap, it is a pure surplus if you ask me.

Next up is a music streamer for YouTube.

johnraff · 2022-11-11 05:25:46

PackRat wrote:

dolly wrote:
If one should install the Firefox snap, could that be a conflict with the ESR Firefox?
I think so because they both use ~/.mozilla for their config files and there are some conflicts there. As I recall, you can get around the conflict by creating a separate profile for firefox (assuming you're already running firefox-esr) from the start. Check the Firefox FAQ page, the whole setup may be explained there.

Probably wouldn't hurt to make a backup copy of ~/.mozilla before starting, so you can go back if something gets messed up.

PackRat · 2022-11-11 13:55:25

johnraff wrote:

PackRat wrote:
dolly wrote:
If one should install the Firefox snap, could that be a conflict with the ESR Firefox?
I think so because they both use ~/.mozilla for their config files and there are some conflicts there. As I recall, you can get around the conflict by creating a separate profile for firefox (assuming you're already running firefox-esr) from the start. Check the Firefox FAQ page, the whole setup may be explained there.
Probably wouldn't hurt to make a backup copy of ~/.mozilla before starting, so you can go back if something gets messed up.

True. At the very least export your bookmarks.

jeffreyC · 2022-11-11 18:02:55

PackRat wrote:

johnraff wrote:
PackRat wrote:
I think so because they both use ~/.mozilla for their config files and there are some conflicts there. As I recall, you can get around the conflict by creating a separate profile for firefox (assuming you're already running firefox-esr) from the start. Check the Firefox FAQ page, the whole setup may be explained there.
Probably wouldn't hurt to make a backup copy of ~/.mozilla before starting, so you can go back if something gets messed up.
True. At the very least export your bookmarks.

^^^ A good thing to get into the habit of for many reasons.

hhh · 2022-11-12 06:13:23

I shouldn't comment, because I've been out of it for quite a while now, but it seems that they both suck when they don't work and they're great when they do work, sometimes. They're sandboxed PPAs basically, right? So, oomox. Oh, no snap package, so flatpak it is...

https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.gi … ject.Oomox

Great, so it should work. Well, it almost does. Wait an hour for it to install and then discover that the Arc and Materia theme generators fail in what is supposed to be a self-contained sandbox, but they don't. So install Inkscape in the hopes that it will help? Nope, why would that help, it's a sandboxed app so adding dependencies vie apt does nothing.

At least it generates an Oomox theme...

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 08#p124208

... but that means that 2/3rds off the app is broken in (from my brief testing) both Debian and Ubuntu. And that's the fault of Arc no longer being supported? So what's the point of the sandbox then?

tl;dr: Good on a per-app basis. Linux in a nutshell.

dolly · 2022-11-12 08:36:32

hhh wrote:

I shouldn't comment, because I've been out of it for quite a while now, but it seems that they both suck when they don't work and they're great when they do work, sometimes. They're sandboxed PPAs basically, right?

Why shouldn´t you comment? You have not been out of it for that long. And I like the "sandboxed PPAs" comment, a good interpretation.

Thanks for the input about Firefox guys, much appreciated. I will do with the recently upgraded ESR for now and maybe come back to that later. It would probably best to do it on my old test machine first, instead of the risk to mess things up where no mess are welcome.

Yes, a backup of the bookmarks is always a good thing one should do. I have my regrets about that one.

hhh · 2022-11-13 06:25:50

dolly wrote:

hhh wrote:
I shouldn't comment, because I've been out of it for quite a while now, but it seems that they both suck when they don't work and they're great when they do work, sometimes. They're sandboxed PPAs basically, right?
Why shouldn´t you comment? You have not been out of it for that long. And I like the "sandboxed PPAs" comment, a good interpretation.

Lol, thanks. I went on a general Flatpak rant instead os a your-usercase-scenario rant.

If you want to run the latest Firefox on BL or any Debian distro, my tutorial for using the Mozilla version still works...

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=1385

DeepDayze · 2022-11-15 14:23:46

I've preferred flatpak over snap as I've used the flatpak versions of MS Edge, Discord and Skype and got them to work pretty well. Flatseal is a good app to use to tweak the permissions of Flats to the underlying filesystem and I generally give them access to certain areas of my home folder.

el_koraco · 2022-11-15 23:06:07

hhh wrote:

If you want to run the latest Firefox on BL or any Debian distro, my tutorial for using the Mozilla version still works...
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=1385

I prefer the ESR version, even on Windows. One year of no changes. By the time the next ESR comes out, the userChrome you use will get updated as well. The tab arrow view thing got me off the regular release.

hhh · 2022-11-16 06:17:15

^Heard that, you'll hate the new changes then.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/1 … easenotes/

dolly · 2022-11-20 06:41:09

el_koraco wrote:

I prefer the ESR version, even on Windows. One year of no changes.

You make a very strong and valid point of view here. And it fits with the general Debian philosophy of slow, safe and controlled evolvement I guess. So I will discard this idea and not waste time on it. Anyway I am not in desperate need of the latest Firefox so why bother.

el_koraco · 2022-11-20 10:26:47

dolly wrote:

el_koraco wrote:
I prefer the ESR version, even on Windows. One year of no changes.
You make a very strong and valid point of view here. And it fits with the general Debian philosophy of slow, safe and controlled evolvement I guess. So I will discard this idea and not waste time on it. Anyway I am not in desperate need of the latest Firefox so why bother.

Firefox is polished software, probably the best single program in existence, the only way in which Mozilla can bork it is with the too fast update cycle and adding "features". ESR and the CSS community do away with this idiocy.

Colonel Panic · 2022-11-21 20:13:27

Someone running Zenwalk is having problems with Flatpak;

https://www.linuxquestions.org/question … 175710729/

I don't know enough to comment, but I'm staying away from Flatpak for the time being and just installing packages with apt (and pacman in the case of my Arch-based distros).

Last edited by Colonel Panic (2022-11-23 16:31:21)

#1 2022-11-06 09:24:22

Snap or Flatpak?

#2 2022-11-06 14:17:53

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#3 2022-11-06 16:28:35

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#4 2022-11-06 22:14:14

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#5 2022-11-09 14:27:39

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#6 2022-11-10 11:13:54

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#7 2022-11-10 16:07:52

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#8 2022-11-10 22:38:43

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#9 2022-11-11 05:25:46

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#10 2022-11-11 13:55:25

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#11 2022-11-11 18:02:55

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#12 2022-11-12 06:13:23

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#13 2022-11-12 08:36:32

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#14 2022-11-13 06:25:50

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#15 2022-11-15 14:23:46

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#16 2022-11-15 23:06:07

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#17 2022-11-16 06:17:15

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#18 2022-11-20 06:41:09

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#19 2022-11-20 10:26:47

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

#20 2022-11-21 20:13:27

Re: Snap or Flatpak?

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