Recent news from the Linux Mint team has made it clear, Linux Mint doesn't like Snap. You should be expecting articles soon on how to enable Snap packages on Linux Mint. Why? Snap packages have a stable future, and more distributions are supporting it. Some key notes to take is Arch Linux, Manjaro, and Fedora. Those three support the installation and use of Snapcraft. Ubuntu ships Snap packages by default.

Snaps are not perfect as they are larger, slower, and can't easily be themed. These are issues within Snap, but others have put claims with Snap based on a fact. The Snapcraft backend is closed-source. There are numerous conspiracy theories. Many Linux users have been comparing Canonical - the company behind both Ubuntu and Snapcraft - to Microsoft. A lot of complaints came when Canonical announced that some APT packages - ones they maintain for Ubuntu - will become Snap packages, and the APT installation command will install the Snap version. Many people disagree with this option, but this option leads to why Linux Mint is making a mistake removing Snap.

Snap packages are better from a developer perspective. I develop applications, and Snap packaging is an astounding solution. Working on projects like Ubuntu Lumina wouldn't benefit from building Snap packages, however applications I have been processing will. When Deb packaging things like the Lumina desktop environment, there is a sense of Kakorrhaphiophobia inside of me. If it doesn't work, I get disconcerted. It often does NOT work. Now I have only packaged a couple of Snaps, but each one of them is leagues easier to build than if I made them Deb packages.

Many people are happy with Snap, but anyone can run a distribution that doesn't include Snap but can install it if they do. Linux Mint is trying to make it impossible to run Snaps. That's an issue, as many developers build Snaps. There are many factors at play with why developers love Snap, including the fact that Snap is available on nearly every Linux distribution, Ubuntu being the most used Linux distribution, Ubuntu builds and supports Snap, and that Ubuntu has Snap preinstalled makes it a more reliable choice for developers. Especially over solutions like Flatpak and in some cases AppImage, Snap is what developers want to use to ship software. Linux Mint making access to Snap difficult only hurts developers and users that like Linux Mint.