Live data from Hacker News

Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

forum.snapcraft.io

1–10 of 443 posts

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#2
I really despise the idea/existence of app stores.

Why can't a publishers website be their store front, then from that site, you can run (or "download"/"install" if you must) the app?

Technically it looks like that would actually work [1]. They could host the `.snap` file. Although I'm sure snap will add friction to this (as in, not simple let you open and click "Install") from a downloaded snap file, as they probably want you to use their app store.

1. https://github.com/snapcrafters/signal-desktop/issues/70#iss...

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#3
This is not a good look. The snap has been gone for almost a month, with seemingly no information given to the maintainer or users about why, except a belated "we removed it for policy reasons" 21 days ago. And if this happens to maintainers associated with Snapcrafters, imagine how you're treated if you're just some random person or company who maintains your own snap.

This is the sort of reason why people are concerned about an ecosystem where Canonical has 100% of the control of the only distribution mechanism. I suppose this is just a confirmation of the legitimacy of those fears.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#4
After reading the thread, I still have no idea why it got removed, so: why did it get removed? What part(s) of the snap policies did they violate, and how is it possible that even something doesn't charge $100 a year before you can even publish a snap doesn't even notify the maintainers that their app got removed? Just because you run an app store doesn't mean Apple and Google's opaque refusal system is the part you should take inspiration from, too.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#5

After reading the thread, I still have no idea why it got removed, so: why did it get removed? What part(s) of the snap policies did they violate, and how is it possible that even something doesn't charge $100 a year before you can even publish a snap doesn't even notify the maintainers that their app got removed? Just because you run an app store doesn't mean Apple and Google's opaque refusal system is the part you…

No one knows [1], except Snap. Not even the maintainers :(

Snaps response [2] seems to be:

> I understand the sudden move of signal-desktop can be disruptive for people wishing to install this package. Just to confirm the reason for the absence - Snap Store administrators had to remove the snap in accordance with our policies. We hope to have it back shortly.

1. https://github.com/snapcrafters/signal-desktop/issues/70#iss...

2. https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/what-happened-to-signal-desktop...

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#6
post #2

I really despise the idea/existence of app stores. Why can't a publishers website be their store front, then from that site, you can run (or "download"/"install" if you must) the app? Technically it looks like that would actually work [1]. They could host the `.snap` file. Although I'm sure snap will add friction to this (as in, not simple let you open and click "Install") from a downloaded snap file, as they probabl…

Because that doesn't solve the discovery problem. People want an easy way to find new things. Whether that's `apt search` or Google Play.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#7
post #2

I really despise the idea/existence of app stores. Why can't a publishers website be their store front, then from that site, you can run (or "download"/"install" if you must) the app? Technically it looks like that would actually work [1]. They could host the `.snap` file. Although I'm sure snap will add friction to this (as in, not simple let you open and click "Install") from a downloaded snap file, as they probabl…

Are they, technically, any different than APT repositories?

Don't get me wrong. I hate Snap much more than the next guy, but the idea of keeping a repository so you can go look for, and discover, stuff that is supposedly also vetted by someone is nice.

The issue is, when an app store is a monopoly and not standardized.

APT repositories is, in my eyes, an example of "the good" type of app store.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#8
post #3

This is not a good look. The snap has been gone for almost a month, with seemingly no information given to the maintainer or users about why, except a belated "we removed it for policy reasons" 21 days ago. And if this happens to maintainers associated with Snapcrafters , imagine how you're treated if you're just some random person or company who maintains your own snap. This is the sort of reason why people are conc…

Another perspective: Canonical's IoT offering, Ubuntu Core, is based around the idea that Canonical provides the base operating system, and you provide your software as a snap, uploaded to Canonical's snap store, and you push updates to your IoT product by pushing an updated snap to the store. That has always rubbed me the wrong way, but "Canonical will just delete the snap and not respond to questions about why" wasn't even something I had considered as a possibility before.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#9
post #2

I really despise the idea/existence of app stores. Why can't a publishers website be their store front, then from that site, you can run (or "download"/"install" if you must) the app? Technically it looks like that would actually work [1]. They could host the `.snap` file. Although I'm sure snap will add friction to this (as in, not simple let you open and click "Install") from a downloaded snap file, as they probabl…

And if you wanted to install 10 apps, then you'd have to visit 10 web pages, search for the file and then install? No, leave this for Windows.
Post reply on HN