Ubuntu Details Initial Plans For Immutable Linux Desktop With Ubuntu Core & Snaps

[sophisticles]

i guess I have been using an "immutable" distro all this time, no matter which distro i install, nearly all the apps i use are either flatpaks or appimages.

Honestly, it seems "immutable" is the tech buzz word du jour.

[Britoid]

Since I know I can't be the only one who looked at that flow chart and wondered WTF is a gadget:

• Gadget: Defines the system’s bootloader, partition layout and default configurations for snaps.
• Kernel: Containing the Linux kernel and hardware drivers.
• Base: A minimal Ubuntu OS image containing only the necessary services and utilities to support the applications running on top.
• Snapd: Manages the lifecycle of all snaps in an Ubuntu Core system.

On the whole their idea isn't a bad one, especially for servers and single-purpose devices. It'd be cool if it was modular enough that distributions like Mint can replace Snap with Flatpak. I could care less about Snap vs Flats, but I know that kind of a decision can affect whether or not their downstream distributions make atomic editions.

You can already make ostree images for Debian based operating systems, this is Mints best bet if they do end up going down the atomic route, given that its flatpaks parent tech.

https://github.com/stb-tester/apt2ostree

[Malsabku]

I like the snap technology, but what bugs me is that many desktop snaps are outdated and badly maintained. e.g. Gimp is still in version 2.30, now we are at Gimp 2.34. Gnome Boxes has version 42.0, while we are now at version 44.2. The GTK3 Gimp 3.0 beta snap (preview/edge, 2.99.10) even does not work, it does not start, and is also outdated.

If Canonical invested more in Snap maintenance, it would do the whole Snap technology good.

Greetings from an otherwise happy Ubuntu 22.04 LTS user who also uses Snaps.

[Ironmask]

The most secure environment is one where it takes so long to boot the applications that anyone performing a targeted attack simply gets bored and gives up.

[futuretim]

I worked on an Ubuntu Core system for a long time migrating from a classic system. It's not without its faults but I generally liked it. However I think as long as there is no way to manage multiple "stores" a.k.a. repos like Flatpak then it's basically DOA. The community doesn't want to invest in a technology that is in essence controlled and dictated by Canonical. I know, it's open source and anyone can do what they want and in fact I headed down that route with an open-source store implementation but the interest in that was a deafening silence. That surprised me a little bit in retrospect I get it because I gave up on it too because why bother when Flatpak exists?

[franglais125]

I don't care much for an immutable OS but would love to see the PDF reader, email client and media player packaged as Snap and sandboxed.

Flathub has you overed for all 3 cases already.

[sarmad]

I worked on an Ubuntu Core system for a long time migrating from a classic system. It's not without its faults but I generally liked it. However I think as long as there is no way to manage multiple "stores" a.k.a. repos like Flatpak then it's basically DOA. The community doesn't want to invest in a technology that is in essence controlled and dictated by Canonical. I know, it's open source and anyone can do what they want and in fact I headed down that route with an open-source store implementation but the interest in that was a deafening silence. That surprised me a little bit in retrospect I get it because I gave up on it too because why bother when Flatpak exists?

Maybe now is the time to revive that project. I bet more people will be interested now since snaps now appear to cover use cases that aren't covered by other package formats.

[jstoik]

For tinkerers, the classic Ubuntu images would remain their preferred route…

Aww. I was getting worried they had forgotten about me.

[futuretim]

Maybe now is the time to revive that project. I bet more people will be interested now since snaps now appear to cover use cases that aren't covered by other package formats.

I'm skeptical that's true. I don't know of use cases that aren't covered by other packages. Can you elaborate?

[sarmad]

I'm skeptical that's true. I don't know of use cases that aren't covered by other packages. Can you elaborate?

The use case of packaging system services and drivers. Is that something that can be done with Flatpak? I haven't seen any command line app packaged as Flatpak, let alone system services or drivers.