Ubuntu software center is missing

[Dennis N]

Apparently the reversion to version 415 was unintended. One day later, snap-store has upgraded to version 481.

dmn@Tyana-vm:~$ snap list | grep store
snap-store         3.36.0-82-g80486d0          481   latest/stable/…  canonical*  -

I think this one should handle regular Ubuntu repo packages, but I can't tell as it won't run at all right now. Terminal give us an error message:

dmn@Tyana-vm:~$ snap run snap-store
/snap/snap-store/481/usr/bin/snap-store: error while loading shared libraries: libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

(Attempted on otherwise up-to-date Ubuntu 20.04 after this upgrade.)

Perhaps the best solution to all this is what's given in post #8. At least up to now, a benefit with gnome-software that's of increasing importance to users is gnome-software's ability to manage Flatpak, while Ubuntu Software (snap version) could not. At some point, a new upgraded Ubuntu Software (snap version) may get this ability too.

UPDATE:
The problem above did not repeat after a later restart, immediately followed by an update offered by software updater. What fixed this is unknown, since no snap packages of any kind were upgraded after the snap-store update indicated above:

dmn@Tyana-vm:~$ snap changes
ID   Status  Spawn               Ready               Summary
9    Done    today at 10:06 MST  today at 10:06 MST  Auto-refresh snap "snap-store"
10   Done    today at 10:19 MST  today at 10:19 MST  Refresh all snaps: no updates
11   Done    today at 10:42 MST  today at 10:42 MST  Refresh all snaps: no updates
12   Done    today at 19:03 MST  today at 19:03 MST  Refresh all snaps: no updates

"Ubuntu Software" has returned, and "Snap Store" has vanished, but Ubuntu Software still does not manage Flatpak. So it's still necessary to install gnome-software as shown in post #8 to take advantage of the automatic updating of Flatpaks.

[grahammechanical]

Yesterday I upgraded from 18.04 to 20.04 and I have an icon in the launcher called Software. When I click Show details it turns out that Software is Gnome Software and it has installed Addons for Flatpack and Snap. I still have the Snap store installed.

This change over (if it is a change over) has been going on for some time. First, Snaps could only be installed through the command line. Then the Ubuntu Software Centre had limited Snap support. The Snap store was/is an attempt to make Snap applications generally more available. Ubuntu Software Centre has been replaced by a Ubuntu branded Gnome Software with Gnome Software being modified to support Snap applications. Lastly the trademarks of Ubuntu and Gnome are removed.

I think we are seeing an ongoing development process following a general and not specific plan or goal. Adjustments and corrections are made along the way. Just another day in the Linux distribution office.

Regards.