Debian 13:

$ uname -r
6.12.88+deb13-amd64

$ snap debug sandbox-features|grep confinement
confinement-options:  classic devmode

$ snap debug confinement
partial

$ aa-enabled
Yes

Ubuntu (24.04):

$ uname -r
6.8.0-117-generic

$ snap debug sandbox-features|grep confinement
confinement-options:  classic devmode strict

$ snap debug confinement
strict

$ aa-enabled
Yes

What does this mean, you ask? Well, basically every Snap package you thought was running isolated in it’s own little sandbox were running unconfined the whole time. The prorpietary app you removed the :home connection from, so it wouldn’t be able to access your home directory? Well, it could have exfiltrated all our private files in the meantime.

How is this not a bigger deal and how are Snaps ever to become mainstream when even today, more than 10 years after the introduction of snaps, you can’t run them sandboxed on a huge portion of Linux distros?

  • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml
    71·
    4 hours ago

    Thank the gods. Nobody wants that proprietary walled garden in Debian.

    It’s just a tool for Ubuntu to control, and maybe even sell itself one day to Goog’s or MS or similar.

    Don’t want it in Debian.

      • Mike@sh.itjust.works
        41·
        2 hours ago

        Last time I checked the Snap Store was proprietary. While you could modify the Snap client, you can’t host your own store and you’re at the whims of Canonical for which apps you can get.

        Meanwhile, both the Flatpak client and server are open, and you could (and some distros do) host your own repo. For example, Fedora has its own repo for Fedora-packaged Flatpak apps alongside Flathub.

  • pogmommy@lemmy.mlEnglish
    15·
    11 hours ago

    I mean I get the concern but I’d be surprised if even 1% of Debian users had any interest in running snaps

  • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
    451·
    14 hours ago

    If I had to guess, this isn’t a bigger issue because Snap is mostly pushed by Canonical. And in a bit of a weird way (proprietary backend, exclusive apps) so… reception in the rest of the Linux community is …mixed. To put it charitably. It’s probably not that relevant for most people outside of the Ubuntu ecosystem. And probably also not a priority for Canonical or the proprietary software vendors.

      • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
        13·
        14 hours ago

        It may not be wise to use a Snap without first understanding the reputation/limitations of Snap.

        seems the Debian Wiki has pretty much your take on it 😅

        • mecen@lemmy.ca
          2·
          45 minutes ago

          “Important note: Many users are wary of Snaps. Use at your own discretion. They update on their own schedule, and install files to nonstandard locations. It may not be wise to use a Snap without first understanding the reputation/limitations of Snap.”

          • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
            1·
            34 minutes ago

            Yeah. And I’d say with the SELinux problems and with what OP wrote, the security model including things like a failure mode to fall open, …silently… There’s more things to be wary of, than what they wrote in those 4 sentences.

  • davel@lemmy.mlEnglish
    32·
    14 hours ago

    Hardly anyone but Ubuntu users use snap, because snap was created by Ubuntu, and their efforts to get other distros to adopt it never gained traction. Debian users are especially uninterested in using snap, and some people on Debian are ex-Ubuntu users who switched because they didn’t like snap.

    • Slashme@lemmy.world
      2·
      3 hours ago

      Yeah, that tracks - I came back to Debian after a few years on Ubuntu, and even before I returned, I removed snap from my Ubuntu system.

  • Eggymatrix@sh.itjust.works
    19·
    14 hours ago

    Because snap is an absolute abomination and no one in their right mind is loosing time maintaining it. If canonical whants to push their crap on debian too, they will need to put in the time to make it work. I really hope they are not making debian developers loose their precious time on this cancer.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
    6·
    13 hours ago

    Snaps is something you drink.
    AFAIK only users who have it shoved down their throat by Ubuntu use snap packages.

  • Rioting Pacifist@lemmy.world
    8·
    15 hours ago

    Because snaps is a Ubuntu thing, and not particularly widely used on Debian.

    #rank name inst vote old recent no-files

    2 util-linux 4000213 2110588 1172784 345252 371589

    2258 snapd 19307 17314 846 1033 114

    I actually don’t understand what use case snapd on Debian covers better than docker on Debian or snapd on ubuntu

  • placebo@lemmy.zipEnglish
    5·
    14 hours ago

    Companies are more likely to use Ubuntu instead of plain Debian or another Debian-based distro on their workstations. No one in this chain aims to bring snap packages to other distros and ensure that they work properly there.