This happened again this morning. Before uninstalling the snap, I typed apt policy firefox which reported:
firefox: Installed: 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 Candidate: 108.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 Version table: *** 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 500 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 108.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 1001 1001 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages So note, from 'Candidate', it knows it wasn't supposed to install the snap, but did anyway for some reason and the 'snap' version had been installed. After 'snap remove --purge firefox' and 'apt-get remove firefox' followed by 'apt-get install firefox', apt policy firefox is now showing: firefox: Installed: 108.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 Candidate: 108.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 Version table: 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 500 500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages *** 108.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 1001 1001 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status As far as I'm aware nothing happened this morning (or last night - I'm checking every morning) to cause Firefox to install. I didn't run any updates, Software Updater did not come up. It feels as if there's a cron job installed in the system somewhere that forcibly installs the snap version, but I have absolutely no clue what that would be because root's is empty, and none of the /etc/cron* scripts appear to be related to this. Was anything pushed last night that might have triggered this? -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to firefox in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1999308 Title: Snap keeps uninstalling apt Firefox, and reinstalling snap Firefox Status in firefox package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: I have looked on various forums including the search features of Launchpad, help.ubuntu..com, and Google for answers on this but not been able to. I have uninstalled the snap of firefox multiple times, installing the real Firefox from ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu/, only for a few days later (once hours later) for snap to uninstall the real thing and install its snap version instead. I have tried a basic sudo snap remove firefox and when that didn't work sudo snap disable firefox sudo snap remove --purget firefox The former should be enough - that's a direct expression of my preferences, some thing like "You should have typed sudo snap remove --do-not-reinstall --disable-auto-ignore-preferences firefox" would not resolve this bug. When installing using apt-get, the correct version is being installed, and snap afterwards does not show the presence of firefox: Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/universe amd64 xul-ext-ubufox all 3.4-0ubuntu1.17.10.1 [3,320 B] Get:2 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 firefox-locale-en amd64 108.0+build2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 [831 kB] Get:3 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 firefox amd64 108.0+build2-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 [64.9 MB] Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes authy 2.2.2 12 latest/stable twilio-authy - bare 1.0 5 latest/stable canonical✓ base chromium 108.0.5359.94 2238 latest/stable canonical✓ - code 5235c6bb 114 latest/stable vscode✓ classic core 16-2.57.6 14399 latest/stable canonical✓ core core18 20221103 2632 latest/stable canonical✓ base core20 20221123 1738 latest/stable canonical✓ base cups 2.4.2-4 836 latest/stable openprinting✓ - gnome-3-28-1804 3.28.0-19-g98f9e67.98f9e67 161 latest/stable canonical✓ - gnome-3-38-2004 0+git.6f39565 119 latest/stable canonical✓ - gtk-common-themes 0.1-81-g442e511 1535 latest/stable/… canonical✓ - onlyoffice-desktopeditors 7.2.1 133 latest/stable onlyoffice✓ - snap-store 41.3-66-gfe1e325 638 latest/stable/… canonical✓ - snapd 2.57.6 17883 latest/stable canonical✓ snapd /var/lib/snapd/seed/snaps contains (once firefox is removed): core18_1880.snap gnome-3-34-1804_36.snap gtk-common-themes_1506.snap snapd_8542.snap snap-store_467.snap https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2021/10/prevent-installing-firefox-snap-ubuntu-mate-21-10/ claims that a similar issue affects Ubuntu MATE 21.04 and the solution was to type "sudo apt-mark manual firefox", which I have done, but that has not resolved the problem. I'm not here to explain why I wouldn't want the snap version, it is clearly a bug for snap to accept a command to uninstall something and then automatically reinstall it days later without the permission of the user, and especially galling that it removes the real version at the same time. I have lost data (passwords and history) because of this bug, because one of the many faults of the snap version is that it ignores the user's real ~/.mozilla profile and creates a shadow profile instead inside of the snap system. Please disable this behavior. It's obnoxious, it ignores EXPLICITY stated user preferences, and it causes the loss of data. I am unclear on what package is causing the behavior so for now marking it against Firefox, but it could be against some other piece of infrastructure related to snap: affects ubuntu/firefox To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1999308/+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