11 November, 2025

Having used Linux since just before the turn of this century, I’ve seen and taken advantage of several different ways in which to install software. All of them had their good and not-so-good points. All of them have their adherents and their critics.

Two methods that have come to a level of prominence and notoriety in the last few years are flatpaks and snaps. And to say that flatpaks and snaps have been the subject of controversy, debate, and argument in the FLOSS world over the last several years is a bit of an understatement. I’m not going to go into any of that. Consult your favourite search engine if you want to learn more.

Those arguments, for the most part, have been highly technical. More than a few points made, however, do have merit.

But for the average Linux user, flatpaks and snaps are a quick, convenient way to get applications for the Linux desktop. Software installed using them runs well on decent hardware. Most importantly, at least to me, is that using flatpaks and snaps helps users escape so-called dependency hell.

Since I switched to Linux distributions that use flatpaks and snaps, I haven’t run into the dependency problems that I’d encountered in years past. On top of that, I have access to a lot of tools that would have been just out of my reach.

As tech blogger Niels Leenheer wrote back in 2021:

I’ve never gotten the feedback during the last ten years: “It’s a nice app, but it would be better if it were a native app”. Not once.

Users don’t care. If you made a great app that is valuable to your users, they wouldn’t care about the underlying technologies. The only requirements are: “Does it do what I want? Does it solve my problem?”.

Users only care that it works, not how it works.

And that sums up my thoughts and feelings about flatpaks and snaps.