Hold your horses, I mean snaps! New feature lets you stop snap updates, for as long as you need (UPDATED)
One of the core aspects of the snap ecosystem is the built-in, robust auto-update mechanism. Whenever there is a snap update available in the Snap Store, the snapd service will apply it, keeping your software patched and up to date. Most of the time, this works great. In some scenarios, though, this may not be what the user wants or expects.
For instance, you may not want an application to update while you’re running it and using it. We’ve all witnessed the arguably funny situations where someone’s laptop performs a system update just as they’re about to present to a large audience at a conference. You could be on a metered connection, or your organization has a strict test-before-update policy. While there are workarounds for how to effectively manage snap refreshes, they don’t fully provide the required level of control. A new refresh hold feature, available in the snapd edge channel, now resolves this long-outstanding conundrum.
UPDATE
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Ubuntu snap updates will soon be able to be held temporarily and indefinitely - Neowin
Canonical has announced that it’s now possible to pause or stop automatic updating of snap packages on Ubuntu if you're on the snapd edge channel. By default, these packages update on their own in the background to ensure you have the latest software, but if you need more control, you’ve now got it. Unfortunately, you’ll need to get your hands dirty in the terminal.
The new hold feature lets you pause all snap updates or updates for select packages. It also lets you set a time limit for the pause to take effect for, or you can leave the time absent and have the hold set permanently.
To hold snap updates for VLC for three days, for example, you’d enter the following command snap refresh --hold=72h vlc and then the output would read something like General refreshes of "vlc" held until 2022-11-17T12:04:59Z. To pause all snap updates, just enter snap refresh --hold=48h and to stop all updates permanently type snap refresh --hold.