Snap Snapcraft
More info
- Creator
- Canonical
- Released
- Type
- Universal Linux package manager
- License
- GPLv3 (client), Snap Store proprietary
- Website
- snapcraft.io
Canonical's universal Linux package format. 2014. Containerized apps (squashfs + AppArmor confinement) that can run on any distribution. Default in Ubuntu since ~16.04.
Competitor: Flatpak (community-driven, more widely adopted outside Ubuntu), AppImage (no install, single binary). Snap controversy: the Snap Store is proprietary (Flatpak's Flathub is open), Canonical pushes Snap over .deb (Firefox + Chromium in Ubuntu are now snap, making browsers slow to start). Ubuntu 24.04 introduces a Snap-only desktop push. Mint + Pop!_OS + Debian stick with .deb. Container runtime: snapd.