Linux Mint 20 will prevent snap and snapd installation in automatic
The number of Linux distributions and versions currently available is very diverse and caters to virtually everyone. One of the most popular distributions today is Linux Mint, a lightweight and elegant version. Now, the developers of this distribution have announced what will be implemented in Linux Mint 20. They have indicated that this new version will not include support for snap and snapd packages.
They have also indicated that Linux Mint 20 will prohibit automatic installation of snapd and other packages installed via APT. It is not that this new distribution totally prevents the use of snapd, but that it will be the user who installs it manually. What it does is prevent the distribution of Mint with packages added without the knowledge of the user.
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This is done because the Chrome browser in Ubuntu 20.04 is in snap format and only part of it is in the DEB repository. When you want to install without installing snapd on the desktop, it connects to the Snap Store directory. So the Chrome package is downloaded in snap format and a script is started to transfer the configuration from the desktop ($ HOME / .config / chromium)
Said Deb package in Linux Mint will become an empty package that does not do any installation action. What it does is show help how the user can get the Chromium package. All because Canonical decided to change Chromium to just snap format and stopped generating packages. A move that is due to the complexity of maintaining Chromium for all branches of Ubuntu.
A strategy that simplifies the package verification process. Chromium is frequently updated and these packages should be thoroughly tested for regressions on each Ubuntu release. What Snap does is simplify the process and allows you to restrict the preparation and testing of a single common package to all versions of Ubuntu. You can also start it in an isolated environment created using AppArmor and protect the system from potential vulnerabilities.
Linux Mint developers have been forced to do this due to the imposition of the use of the Snap Store service. The loss of control over the packages that are installed from snap has not liked. Developers are prevented from making fixes to packages, managing delivery, and auditing changes.
Finally, they point out that this model differs very little from the delivery of proprietary software and they are concerned about uncontrolled changes.
It seems to me a smart decision of Linux Mint: to give the user options, is to give him freedom. That the user has the option to install the packages by Snpad manually, not automatically. That the user is aware of what he is installing on his computer, I agree with those things.