Is it me or Ubuntu secretly replaces DEB Firefox with Snap Firefox?
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The whole apt ecosystem is kind of a mess, if you ask me. Debian stable updates on archeological timescales, Debian testing just isn't a very good rolling release disto, you're better off with Arch or OpenSuse Tumbleweed if you want to actually use a rolling release as a daily driver, Ubuntu is a mess of annoying corporate decisions I hate from Canonical, and all the others are all just kind of disjointed in how they try to fix those issues.
My personal favorite is Mint. They just try to make Ubuntu with some classic, boring desktop design and minus the more controversial Canonical decisions, but obviously that's not everyone's cup of tea. I dunno, there is no perfect distro, you just have to find the one that for you it takes the least amount of effort to fix. Ubuntu really just kind of makes it a pain in the butt to fix all their weirdness though.
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Yes, this is known. They do the same for Chromium. If you want a browser from ubuntu, it's going to be a snap.
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At this point, why is anyone using Ubuntu for desktop? You have soooo many options
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I suspect that what's happened is you installed the apt version, then at some point upgraded it and there was a version in the main repo that had a higher version number and installed the snap version. If two repositories both have a package with the same name, and no other rules in place, the higher version number wins.
If that is the case, you need to pin the firefox package to the mozilla repository. You can find more details here: https://wiki.debian.org/AptConfiguration
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Solve the problem. Drop ubunutu
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Yes. That was the last straw for me. I switched to debian stable, and haven't looked back since
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Hah! Me too, exactly this.
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No defending Ubuntu but wasn't this clarified to be Mozilla's deploying it via Snap and requesting to remove the apt installation?
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Because not everyone wants to spend their time babysitting an OS and Ubuntu has a 20-year track record of dependability.
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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: 1000Package: firefox*
Pin: release o=Ubuntu
Pin-Priority: -1' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla -
Exactly. Enough with the inane conspiracism.
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Why even enable snaps? It's like asking to have headaches.
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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
aptis configured to take into account Snap packages. -
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.
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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.
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Debian testing just isn’t a very good rolling release disto
What makes you say that?
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You could compile it from source yourself, and you won't even have to worry about packaging and package managers.
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