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Canonical's Go-to Excuse (Security) to Make Ubuntu More Proprietary (Snap)
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Neowin ☛ Core Ubuntu package to be turned into a Snap; Deb ditched
Canonical, the firm behind the popular Ubuntu Linux, has decided to change the distribution format of the core hwctl system package from Deb to Snap, Canonical in-house package format. This core package is a command-line tool that allows you to check the Ubuntu Hardware Certification status of your system by collecting local hardware information and checking it against Canonical’s hardware database.
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Dolphin Publications B V ☛ Canonical replaces key Ubuntu tool with more secure snap format
Canonical is once again migrating a system package to the snap format. The package in question is hwctl, a small command-line utility that comes standard with Ubuntu. According to the company, the switch improves security and enables better desktop integration. The Deb version will be discontinued.
The hwctl package is part of Canonical’s rust-hwlib, a set of hardware APIs pre-installed on both the desktop and server editions of Ubuntu. From now on, Canonical will provide this utility exclusively as a sandboxed snap. The traditional Deb package is being phased out.