@Stuart Honestly, I'm not surprised by the Ubunutu devs response to your bug report. Like everyone else, I got excited about the latest Ubuntu LTS release and installed it on day one. A week in, I’m sorry to say that I leave disappointed. The amount of unready snap features being effectively forced onto users is affecting Ubuntu’s usability and user-friendliness. In 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu’s Software Center was switched from being a .deb version of GNOME Software to a snap app. The new snapped store can handle management of snap applications and traditional .deb ones, but it can’t install or remove Flatpak applications, like the previous .deb version could. Users wanting to install Flatpak apps need to revert to using the .deb version. Which at this point is no longer available through the terminal. It’s not an ideal solution when previous Ubuntu Software releases could handle all three formats by default. In all, the latest Ubuntu Software is a step back. Even without Flatpak apps, I was expecting the snap store to at least do well what it is supposed to. It turns out it prioritizes snap apps over .deb in search results at any cost! So you’ll see a long list of non relevant search results of snap apps above .deb ones, even if your search term exactly matches the latter. Needless to say this is a serious issue for discovering software, especially for new users. Given that app discovery is so central to consumer operating systems, I’m gonna say the new Ubuntu isn’t only a step back, but is borderline unreliable. Snap applications auto-update and that’s fine if Ubuntu wants to keep systems secure. But it can’t even be turned off manually. Auto-updating of snaps can only be deferred at best, until at some point, like Windows, it auto-updates anyway. Even on metered connections, snaps auto-update anyway after some time. This is a deal breaker for people on limited bandwidth connections or who want to know exactly what they’re updating and when they’d like to. I never hold off updating my system for more than seven days in the worst case, but this auto-update snap thing is causing me issues like slowing down my connection abruptly and using a major chunk of my limited data for the day.Ubuntu was my first Linux-based operating system and is what attracted me to the ecosystem. I have a soft spot for it, especially the amazing Unity days. As such, it is disappointing to see this snap obsession that has taken over Ubuntu. An OS once lauded for its sane defaults and user friendliness is actively going against the user’s will. What’s especially concerning is that this is the Ubuntu version that millions of people will use for at least two years. I don’t hate snaps but being forced to use it when clearly in a premature state is forcing me to hate it. Snaps simply aren’t ready for system-wide daily usage and Ubuntu should’ve known better. Perhaps Ubuntu should’ve created a separate snap-based OS image, like Fedora’s Silverblue, and only swap the default when it’s ready. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS’ snap obsession has discouraged me from using it for the foreseeable future. I switched to Pop!_OS a few days ago as my primary OS and I;m loving it so far. You should give it a try.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-software in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1879318 Title: Removing gnome software snap plugin breaks gnome software storefront on Xubuntu 20.04 Status in gnome-software package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: How to reproduce: 1) Fresh install of Xubuntu 20.04 2) Open "Terminal" 3) Type "sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd gnome-software-plugin-snap" 4) Launch "Gnome Software" Result: I removed snapd & the Gnome Software snap plugin and I noticed that it broke the Gnome Software front page, where you can see all the featured and recommended applications etc. See attached screenshot. After running "sudo apt autoremove --purge snapd gnome-software-plugin-snap" the Gnome Software Center should default back to showing applications from the Ubuntu repository and not snap store. The same happens in Ubuntu 18.04! I tried clearing the app-info cache but to no avail. $pkill gnome-software $sudo rm -r /var/cache/app-info $sudo appstreamcli refresh --force --verbose Gnome-Software terminal output: 12:06:06:0632 Gs enabled plugins: desktop-categories, fwupd, os-release, packagekit, packagekit-local, packagekit-offline, packagekit-proxy, packagekit-refine-repos, packagekit-refresh, packagekit-upgrade, packagekit-url-to-app, appstream, desktop-menu-path, hardcoded-blacklist, modalias, odrs, packagekit-refine, rewrite-resource, packagekit-history, provenance, systemd-updates, generic-updates, provenance-license, icons, key-colors, key-colors-metadata 12:06:06:0633 Gs disabled plugins: dpkg, dummy, repos 12:06:07:0935 Gs Only 0 apps for popular list, hiding 12:06:07:0965 Gs hiding category audio-video featured applications: found only 0 to show, need at least 9 12:06:07:0965 Gs hiding category graphics featured applications: found only 0 to show, need at least 9 12:06:08:0925 Gs Only 2 apps for recent list, hiding Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/F4BCWQu ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04 Package: gnome-software 3.36.0-0ubuntu3 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-26.30-generic 5.4.30 Uname: Linux 5.4.0-26-generic x86_64 NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27 Architecture: amd64 CasperMD5CheckResult: pass CasperVersion: 1.445 CurrentDesktop: XFCE Date: Mon May 18 11:56:16 2020 InstalledPlugins: gnome-software-plugin-flatpak N/A gnome-software-plugin-snap N/A LiveMediaBuild: Xubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423) ProcEnviron: TERM=xterm-256color PATH=(custom, no user) XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set> LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash SourcePackage: gnome-software UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) modified.conffile..etc.xdg.autostart.gnome-software-service.desktop: [deleted] To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-software/+bug/1879318/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
