Re: why or how
Well yes, but sometime you don't want a full container just to run a program, with a different version of some libraries. These app bundles seem to be being more of a thing and they are ok for rapidly changing packages that are always out of date on the standard PPAs. I know people who would much rather build AppImages than Debs and they seem to be more portable.
Every snap I have seen however seems to be an unmitigated disaster. They break when they try to talk to external programs, they break when they try to access a file on an SD card. You look on a forum and technically this is not snap's fault, it is the devs, they needed to set some option do it with this command.
The thing is. Where does snap fit? AppImages are not managed, but they are simple, you download them and they run. Apt packages can have dependency hell, but if you get in installed it always seems to run. Snap seems to sit halfway between the two in philosophy, but a million miles away in execution. Harder for devs to make, less portable, and seem to always go wrong.
Why on earth did they try to invent the wheel. If they wanted a new distribution channel that was open and free of dependency hell, why did they not look at a way to curate and install AppImages? But no, they wanted to make a killer app that was owned by them. It may prove to be a killer app. It has killed my enthusiasm for Ubuntu. I am looking for a snap-free place to jump ship.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
