Ubuntu (not LTS) based dist. independent on Snap, FlatPak & AppImage?

[1fallen]

I couldn't get Arch under 5GB if I cut off its arms & legs.

But My server is under 5 gigs
Desktop is a different story though

 df / 
Filesystem              Type  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on 
zpcachyos/ROOT/cos/root zfs   408G   13G  396G   3% /

[TheFu]

You don't need to use snaps on Ubuntu. When you install apps via apt, they're not snap packs.

This is easily proven to be false. Remove Firefox. Install it again using sudo apt install firefox The snap will be installed.
Same for lxd and chromium and vlc. There may be "some" packages that don't have a "snap-transitional .deb package, but the major ones all do to "help" people.

For a clear example,

$ dpkg -l lxd
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-========================================
ii  lxd            1:0.10       all          Transitional package - lxd -> snap (lxd)

and

$ snap list
Name    Version         Rev    Tracking       Publisher   Notes
bare    1.0             5      latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core18  20240920        2846   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core20  20240705        2379   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core22  20240904        1621   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
lxd     5.21.2-2f4ba6b  30131  5.21/stable    canonical✓  -
scrcpy  v1.25           399    latest/stable  sisco311    -
snapd   2.63            21759  latest/stable  canonical✓  snapd

I'd prefer to have a non-snap version of lxd. Please. Exactly how can I have that, easily, on Ubuntu? The answer is, it isn't possible.

I'd love to know, if things have actually changed.

Oh, and AppImages do not require any extra software installed to work normally. Just grab the program-version.AppImage, chmod +x that file and run it. No sandbox or container, but no hassles either.

[VMC]

This is easily proven to be false. Remove Firefox. Install it again using sudo apt install firefox The snap will be installed.
Same for lxd and chromium and vlc. There may be "some" packages that don't have a "snap-transitional .deb package, but the major ones all do to "help" people.

For a clear example,

$ dpkg -l lxd
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-========================================
ii  lxd            1:0.10       all          Transitional package - lxd -> snap (lxd)

and

$ snap list
Name    Version         Rev    Tracking       Publisher   Notes
bare    1.0             5      latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core18  20240920        2846   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core20  20240705        2379   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
core22  20240904        1621   latest/stable  canonical✓  base
lxd     5.21.2-2f4ba6b  30131  5.21/stable    canonical✓  -
scrcpy  v1.25           399    latest/stable  sisco311    -
snapd   2.63            21759  latest/stable  canonical✓  snapd

I'd prefer to have a non-snap version of lxd. Please. Exactly how can I have that, easily, on Ubuntu? The answer is, it isn't possible.

I'd love to know, if things have actually changed.

Oh, and AppImages do not require any extra software installed to work normally. Just grab the program-version.AppImage, chmod +x that file and run it. No sandbox or container, but no hassles either.

$ dpkg -l lxd
dpkg-query: no packages found matching lxd

$ snap list
Command 'snap' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install snapd

[TheFu]

$ dpkg -l lxd
dpkg-query: no packages found matching lxd

$ snap list
Command 'snap' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install snapd

Now, run

sudo apt install lxd

and run those 2 commands again. You'll see a snap package was installed even though you used "apt", not "snap install". THAT's my main issue with snaps. They are being sneaky and there's no way to prevent "transitional packages from pulling in snap infra even after it has clearly be manually removed by the admin on the system.

Anyway, I gave up fighting the battle. Mint doesn't do this and it is enough like Ubuntu in other ways for my desktop needs.

[1fallen]

I finally have it at bay currently with:

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref Package: snapd Pin: release a=* Pin-Priority: -10 EOF

You can use apt hold, but I find it still trys to sneak in . Banish from the OS is better.

sudo cat /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref
Package: snapd
Pin: release a=*
Pin-Priority: -10

 sudo apt install lxd
Package lxd is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Error: Package 'lxd' has no installation candidate

sudo apt install snapd
Package snapd is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Error: Package 'snapd' has no installation candidate

There Much Better Now......

[Norm24]

This is easily proven to be false. Remove Firefox. Install it again using sudo apt install firefox The snap will be installed.

This is not entirely accurate.After removing all Snap packages that I did want to use I either downloaded the .deb packages from source or used a trusted PPA.Perfect example of this is Firefox,I simply removed the Snap version of FF downloaded the Ubuntuzilla PPA+signing key then sudo apt install firefox-mozilla-build and no snap installed and I will always get the latest Mozilla build of FF.This applies to TB and SeaMonkey as well,same for LibreOffice,Edge and a myriad of other packages.With many other packages I simply downloaded the .deb from source and installed with Gdebi and no snap installed.

As an end user who's been with Ubuntu essentially from the beginning I don't like to muck around to deeply and screw things up,I'm not one to just start entering lines of code in terminal to change things that might screw up a basic install.I've had issues with snaps since they were introduced and have been doing exactly what I posted in the above paragraph since snaps first came on the scene.The only snaps installed on my pc are the core components that were installed when I installed Ubuntu(Mate) and like I said I'm not going to screw around in terminal to change that and risk breaking my current install.

[1fallen]

.The only snaps installed on my pc are the core components that were installed when I installed Ubuntu(Mate) and like I said I'm not going to screw around in terminal to change that and risk breaking my current install.

And "No One" will force you to, Relax!
I have been around since the year 2005, and I wouldn't do or write anything with intent to break anyone's system.

Just sharing my prefs, no more no less. Your free to do as you please. and I won't bitch about it.

[grahammechanical]

They are being sneaky and there's no way to prevent "transitional packages from pulling in snap infra even after it has clearly be manually removed by the admin on the system

We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated into the hive mind. If that does not work, watch out for the Daleks. Exterminate! Exterminate!

Regards

[VMC]

I finally have it at bay currently with:

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref Package: snapd Pin: release a=* Pin-Priority: -10 EOF

You can use apt hold, but I find it still trys to sneak in . Banish from the OS is better.

sudo cat /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref
Package: snapd
Pin: release a=*
Pin-Priority: -10

 sudo apt install lxd
Package lxd is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Error: Package 'lxd' has no installation candidate

sudo apt install snapd
Package snapd is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Error: Package 'snapd' has no installation candidate

There Much Better Now......

Yes, indeed! That 'nosnap.pref' is the way to go.

[VMC]

Removing snaps the proper way will not 'screw things up', as you say. My Firefox is installed from apt.