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.

  • Lemmchen@feddit.org
    0·
    2 years ago

    Have you correctly set your apt preferences? I didn’t have any issues anymore since I’ve done that.

  • Decker108@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

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

  • Revan343@lemmy.ca
    0·
    2 years ago

    I suggest Mint or straight Debian. I prefer Mint for anything graphical, Debian for headless

    • typhoon@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      No defending Ubuntu but wasn’t this clarified to be Mozilla’s deploying it via Snap and requesting to remove the apt installation?

    • sourov@lemm.eeOP
      0·
      2 years 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.

      • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
        0·
        2 years ago

        Firefox now has instructions on their “Debian-based” install section about pinning their repo over Canonical’s so that doesn’t happen.

        Because you’re right, Canonical does think so highly of their product that they will constantly attempt to undermine other options against your will.

      • Eugenia@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        Yes, this is known. They do the same for Chromium. If you want a browser from ubuntu, it’s going to be a snap.

        • Morphit @feddit.uk
          0·
          2 years ago

          w3m is a proper deb 😛

          Looks like only firefox, chromium-browser and thunderbird are these dummy transitional packages. There’s a fwupd-snap, but the default fwupd is a full deb.

    • sourov@lemm.eeOP
      0·
      2 years 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
        0·
        2 years 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.

    • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      But it’s not obvious either. When I say ‘apt install firefox’, specially after adding their repository to sources.list, I’d expect to get a .deb from mozilla. Silently overriding my commands rubs me in a very wrong way.

      • BluescreenOfDeath@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        It takes a little more than just adding a different repository to your package manager, you have to tell apt which to prefer:

        echo ’
        Package: *
        Pin: origin packages.mozilla.org
        Pin-Priority: 1000

        Package: firefox*
        Pin: release o=Ubuntu
        Pin-Priority: -1’ | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla

        • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          True, but more often than not mozilla should have newer packages on their repository than any distribution. And the main problem still is that Ubuntu changed apt and threw snap in to the mix where it doesn’t belong.

          • BluescreenOfDeath@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 years ago

            I’m not disagreeing with anything you’ve said?

            I’m saying that just adding Mozilla’s PPA to your sources won’t change apt’s behavior when installing Firefox unless you tell apt to prefer the package offered by the Mozilla PPA.

            As someone who uses Kubuntu as a daily driver, I’m well aware of the snap drama and have worked around it using the method I pasted above.

            Even though it’s an underhanded move by Cannonical, I’m still glad the OS is open source since it makes the workaround so trivial.

    • sourov@lemm.eeOP
      0·
      2 years ago

      Since when this became a known thing? I’m aware that the snap version is installed when the user is trying to install the deb version of Firefox by running,

      sudo apt install firefox

      But I never heard that the installed DEB version of Firefox is replaced by Snap version of Firefox.

      • Routhinator@startrek.websiteEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        The deb version is a pointer to the snap in their repos. Nothings being replaced, it no longer exists. The deb version of Firefox in Ubuntu repos is a wrapper that installs snap and has no binaries in it. Has been for 3 years or so.

        • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
          0·
          2 years ago

          It’s more than that. Ubuntu copies the Debian repos and then applies their own changes on top. Debian has a native (DEB) Firefox package, so Ubuntu specifically has to remove it for every new version.

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Well then you haven’t been following it closely. As someone else said, the reason is simple: the Snap version is more recent (like it or not) and in Ubuntu apt is configured to take into account Snap packages.

        • Morphit @feddit.uk
          0·
          2 years ago

          Canonical added an epoch prefix to the firefox version number. Because that epoch (1) is higher than the implicit default (0), the official ubuntu dummy package is always considered to be a higher version than the official Mozilla package. apt doesn’t look at snap packages, it installs the deb, but the ubuntu deb just runs snap install firefox and basically nothing else.

  • accideath@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    Wasn’t that one of the main critiques of snap/ubuntu/canonical a few years ago already?

    Among my personal dislike for its shade of purple, that has been my primary reason to not recommend ubuntu for a while, at least.

    • JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml
      0·
      2 years ago

      It’s a dilemma; most Windows and Mac users would benefit from that kind of locked-down, idiot-proof format. Even having the choice of multiple repos is too much for them. So while I personally hate it, that’s what most people (i.e. non-Linux users) want and need.

      I recommend Ubuntu as the beginner distro for everyone, but with the hope that they eventually drop the training wheels and switch to Debian.

      • accideath@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        That’s why I recommend mint. You have all the benefits of ubuntu but without the corporate stuff. And flatpak instead of snap.

  • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years 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.

    • Noble Bacon@lemmy.mldeleted by creatorPortuguês
      0·
      2 years ago

      You could have gone pure Debian. There are no snap shenanigans over there :)

      OpenSuse is also a great pick tho!

  • Papamousse@beehaw.org
    0·
    2 years 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.