Here my notes on what i did after installing the 25.04 mate system on a VM
## Remove the dangerous snapd package
sudo snap list
sudo snap remove firefox
sudo snap remove gnome-42-2204
sudo snap remove snap-store
sudo snap remove gtk-common-themes
sudo snap remove firmware-updater
sudo snap remove snapd-desktop-integration
sudo snap remove core22
sudo snap remove bare
sudo snap remove snapd
sudo apt remove snapd
sudo apt purge snapd
sudo rm -rf /var/cache/snapd/
rm -rf ~/snap
# now add nop snap preference
sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap
Package: snapd
Pin: release a=*
Pin-Priority: -10
sudo nano /etc/apt/preferences.d/firefox-no-snap
Package: firefox*
Pin: release o=Ubuntu*
Pin-Priority: -1
# add firefox back
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -t 'o=LP-PPA-mozillateam' firefox
# diable unnatended uprades
sudo systemctl disable --now unattended-upgrades
#install useful packages
sudo apt-get install synaptic
sudo apt-get install mc
Im aware that 25.04 is not a stable version, but it should absolutely not ship unstable software that breaks and slows down low end laptops or VMs.
Can you explain me why the subiquity installer needs 3 times more time to search the non existing internet connection than extracting the file system?
And folks the cupertino layout on mate is very broken. Either you load vala panel into mate or you just drop this option in mate tweak.
It might sound like im trolling or am very frustrard but believe me im not. Ubuntu mate is still one of the easiest and most confortable linux os.
3 Likes
I'll provide my comments/reactions; take or leave them.
Ubuntu 25.04 is a stable system, it's just not a LTS system, and being non-LTS its possible that some things for the next LTS are tried in that release, things that may change for the next release, or even be dropped before the two year LTS development cycle is completed; but as its a stable system those items are supported for the nine months of that release.
Ubuntu's two year development system isn't exactly a rolling release, as the two years is broken down into 4 six month periods; with a stable release for each of the first three cycles; the fourth cycle being the LTS itself. If something isn't ready, it gets pushed for the next cycle as the non-LTS releases are all released as stable.
The snap based installers (subiquity and ubuntu-desktop-installer) have a unique capability in that they can refresh themselves prior to install; allowing users to get any bug fixes that were released after the ISO was released. As a result; it does spend some time trying to see if a newer version is available assuming there is internet; if internet isn't available there could be timeout delay; but I've not explore how long this is. I wonder if this is what you're experiencing.
I'd include a warning with your instructions, as whilst I note you have code that would replace the web-browser firefox with a deb package, there is nothing that replaces the firmware-updater package.
Whilst I have other [older] boxes that don't get benefit from that package installed, the box I'm using now gets a firmware update every 12-15 months in my experience. Some firmware updates can actually solve problems for end-users.
Disabling unattended upgrades may also be appreciated by many more advanced users, but I'm not sure most users would benefit from that, and those that wouldn't likely don't notice the effects and thus may just 'copy and paste' your instructions as they've read snapd removal is good; but what you're doing there goes well beyond just removing snapd.
At least for now, four flavors offer a snapd free install method, but there is some push for that to 'disappear' prior to 26.04 LTS. The effects of snap free installs differ between releases; and it may be that when using 25.04 you'll need to re-install snapd prior to release-upgrade to 25.10; but we don't know that yet.
7 Likes