How to install Snap in Linux

Snap is package distribution on Linux. Unlike APT or DNF, which download softwares from the linux distribution’s official repositories as well as third-party repositories, snaps are installed from one central distribution system that is hosted by Canonical.

Contents

How Snap is different from APT and DNF
How to install snap
- Install a Snap Package

How Snap is different from APT and DNF

APT and DNF which are package managers for Debian-based and .rpm based Linux distributions have their default sources(the distribution’s repositories from where your softwares are downloaded) maintained by the linux distribution itself while keeping user experience and security in mind and the code is inspected for vulnerabilities and only uploaded to the official repositories after thorough checks. You can even add some third-party repositories and PPAs for APT. Although, if you add some random third-party repositories to your sources then your system may be prone to malicious attacks. For DNF, there are a bunch of third party services like Copr or RPMFusion, to get packages not included in the official repositories.

Snaps on the other hand have only one store that is hosted by Canonical. Snap store is a universal app store meaning it can be used to install apps on many different linux distributions. Snaps update automatically but APT/DNF packages don’t. When you install a snap all it’s dependencies come with it and when you uninstall it then the dependencies with it also get removed. Snaps are containerised, except in cases where they are installed with custom flags, and they cannot affect the host system and does not have access to any resources outside the snap. Snaps are generally slower than the native packages of the linux distribution and might run worse in low-end devices.