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submitted 22 hours ago by sourov@lemm.ee to c/linux@lemmy.ml

After creating a fresh installation of Ubuntu 24.04, I installed DEB Firefox from APT by following Mozilla's instructions from here. But I noticed that it was secretly replaced with Snap Firefox. I was able to verify this by checking the About Firefox page. This is the third time I noticed this.

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[-] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 17 points 22 hours ago

It's a known and documented issue that Ubuntu does. They secretly install the Snap version, even if you tried to install the Deb package. This is an issue since years: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1345385/how-can-i-stop-apt-from-installing-snap-packages (posted 3 years and 7 months ago)

[-] sourov@lemm.ee 5 points 21 hours ago

My problem is not like that. I’m aware that when the user runs(without adding Mozilla’s apt repository),

sudo apt install firefox

the snap version of Firefox is installed. But I never heard that, though APT is configured to install Firefox from Mozilla’s repository, the DEB version will be uninstalled and the Snap version will be installed.

[-] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 4 points 21 hours ago

Yes, that's the exact issue. Ubuntu does that for years. You use apt to install deb, but Ubuntu installs silently the Snap version. The article I linked was talking about that almost 4 years ago and talks about how to stop that. It's an old issue not many are aware off.

[-] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 8 points 20 hours ago

For awhile I was getting firefox crashes in Mint all the time. Turns out it was the snap version being unstable.

[-] Petter1@lemm.ee 4 points 18 hours ago

How did you get snap on mint?! 😆I once tried it as a noob and mint was always “snap bad! Don’t do this! You will regret” even on try to circumvent it 🤣

[-] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 1 points 18 hours ago

I swear it was the default already installed. Maybe I'm misremembering.

[-] that_leaflet@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Mint never preinstalled the snap. They package their own version of Firefox. I believe they have an agreement with Mozilla.

[-] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 1 points 18 hours ago

Maybe it was that i had to install the snap version (or maybe flatpak?) and uninstall theirs, which fixed the crashes. I thought it was a hardware issue for awhile because it was so random.

[-] GoodEye8@lemm.ee 3 points 19 hours ago

Why even enable snaps? It's like asking to have headaches.

[-] Dirk@lemmy.ml 10 points 21 hours ago

Ubuntu uses Snap as first-class method to install software. So if a piece of software is available as DEB or Snap, Ubuntu will always use Snap.

[-] Scrollone@feddit.it 7 points 20 hours ago

Thanks. I hate snaps. I'll probably just stop using Ubuntu.

[-] sourov@lemm.ee 5 points 21 hours ago

I’m aware that when the user runs(without adding Mozilla’s apt repository),

sudo apt install firefox

the snap version of Firefox is installed. But I never heard that, though APT is configured to install Firefox from Mozilla’s repository, the DEB version will be uninstalled and the Snap version will be installed.

[-] Decker108@lemmy.ml 2 points 18 hours ago

You could compile it from source yourself, and you won't even have to worry about packaging and package managers.

[-] Frederic@beehaw.org 2 points 20 hours ago

One of the reason I moved to MX Linux, it is Debian based, always latest everything, like 6.12.11 kernel, my FF just got updated to 135.0, and it is no systemd, no flatpak, no snap, everything is DEB, and stable.

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this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
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