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diff --git a/ubuntu1604review.txt b/ubuntu1604review.txt index 1e2a96c..6ab9d84 100644 --- a/ubuntu1604review.txt +++ b/ubuntu1604review.txt @@ -32,22 +32,38 @@ A more visual change in 16.04 is ability to move the Unity launcher to the botto That said, it does still require installing the dconf editor and diving into the options a bit to turn it on. Once you've installed dconf-editor, navigate to com > canonical > unity > launcher > launcher-position to find the option to switch the launcher position (alternately, the third party Unity-tweak-tool supports it as well). +Systemd isn't the only example of an upstream project replacing one of Canonical's own, the Ubuntu Software Center sees a similar makeover, though in this case the replacement is a bit closer -- GNOME Software. +The Ubuntu Software Center has been largely abandoned for some time. GNOME on the other hand has been pouring considerable effort into its own software app so the move makes sense for Ubuntu. It's just upstream and it's flexible enough that Canonical can customize it, but doesn't have to maintain it directly. If you're already familiar with both apps the first thing you'll notice is that Canonical appears to have just mashed the two together. The result is not, to my eye, quite as nice as GNOME Software on its own, but it does bring in all the reviews and content of the old Ubuntu Software Center (which incidentally, is still in the repos if you want it). +Ubuntu's version of GNOME Software also gets some of the nice new upstream features like support for firmware updates via the Software Center. Provided your firmware is available via the Linux Vendor Firmware Service you'll be able to update your devices with a single click in the Software Center. +If you eschew graphical software apps for the simplicity of the command line, be aware that Ubuntu 16.04 supports the simpler `apt` command alongside `apt-get` in addition to marginally less typing, apt nicely unifies a bunch of apt- commands with better documentation and support for progress bars. +## Snap Packages -Ubuntu 16.04 has finally managed to shed the Software Center, which has been little more than abandonware for some time now. Instead this release see Ubuntu adopting the GNOME Software app, which has been somewhat customized to fit into the Unity theme. The move to the upstream software center also means that Ubuntu users now have the ability to apply firmware updates directly through the software center (provided the hardware manufacturer in question makes them available). +Ubuntu 16.04's biggest change looks quite innocuous at first glance. There's nothing graphical to see, but the release brings Ubuntu Snappy to the desktop and with it the possibility to completely change the way you install and maintain software on Ubuntu (and Linux more broadly). -Also missing are few applications that are no longer installed by default. Brasero has been retired and the Empathy IRC client is also no longer part of the install CD. If you rely on either have no fear, both apps are still available in the Ubuntu repositories. +Ubuntu server users have likely already encountered Snappy through the distro's various container deployment options, but this is the first time Snappy has been integrated into the desktop. +To understand what Snap Package are, it helps to first understand how applications are installed. When you select an application to install in the Software Center it doesn't just install itself, it also installs other applications (in this context, applications are generally referred to as "packages") that it needs. + +Some applications you install might need only one or two other package to work. Others may use hundreds. Application packaging systems like APT do a reasonably good job on working on which additional packages you need to install the application you actually want so that you don't have to worry about. APT also does a reasonably good job of making sure that you get the right version of the packages in question. But what happens when one application you have installed needs package X version 1.1 and another needs package X version 1.2? With APT you've got yourself a potentially system breaking problem. + +Snap package solve this problem by creating self-contained packages. With Snap packages applications are installed in their own container and all the third-party applications are installed with them so that there are no version conflicts. Snap packages are also smart enough to not install a package more than once so aplications installed via Snappy don't take anymore disk space than regular applications. + +You're probably wondering why this matter and how it's going to change Ubuntu for the better. The answer is that Snap package make it possible to install the latest and greatest software without worry about whether or not Ubuntu has updated every component package you might need for the latest and greatest version of your favorite app. For example I like to run the bleeding edge release of Darktable, which is typically at least a point version ahead of what's in the Ubuntu repos. Right now there's a deb maintained by a Darktable developer who does his best to make sure nothing breaks, but essentially one person putting in ton of effort is all that keeps Darktable from potentially breaking the rest of my system. It works, I've never had a problem, but it's hardly idea. + +With Snap package there would be no danger of accidentally breaking your system with an application update because the application is completely self-contained. + +This means you could run a very conservative release, like an Ubuntu LTS and still have the latest versions of all your favorite applications. It's the best of both worlds -- a stable system running the latest userland software. + +All of this is supported in Ubuntu 16.04, but so far there are very few Snappy version of desktop applications available. That will likely change in the very near future. Mozilla has already announced that Firefox will be available as a Snap package very soon (web browsers are a great use case for Snap packages since they update frequently) and expect other big projects to likewise embrace Snap package now that 16.04 has launched. + +As nice as Snap package is, it does have one problem -- once again Canonical is rolling its own solution when there are several upstream possibilities it could have elected to use instead. Both GNOME's xdg-app and the cross-distro [app-image](http://appimage.org/) system do exactly what Snap package do, but they -## Snap Packages -what they are -benefits -Firefox is onboard -snap vs xdg-app vs app-image and how Ubuntu has a history of going its own way and then coming back to the fold, will snap packages be the same way? +and how Ubuntu has a history of going its own way and then coming back to the fold, will snap packages be the same way? ## Kernel and other new stuff |