Beginning with the release of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Firefox and Firefox-Locale debacks will be replaced with plugins that come with Firefox as snap packages, or download components directly from the Mozilla website, and the ability to install classic packages in .deb format will also cease.
For its old users of the deb package, Mozilla has released a transparent transition process through an update that will install the snap package and get the current settings from the user’s home directory.
To recap, in Ubuntu’s fall release 21.10, the Firefox browser is already available as a snap package by default, but the ability to install deb packages continues. As of 2019, the Chromium browser is also only available as a snap.
The reason for promoting the snap format as a browser mainly stems from a desire to simplify supporting and unifying the development of different versions of Ubuntu – this is because deb packages need to accompany all supported Ubuntu branches, and accordingly, development and testing efforts must take into account the system Different versions of components, and snap packages can be applied to all Ubuntu branches at once.
One of the important requirements for a browser to be available in distribution is the need to deliver updates in a timely manner so that vulnerabilities can be blocked in time. Serving in snap format will speed up bringing new versions of the browser to Ubuntu users.
Additionally, the delivery of the SNAP browser allows developers to run Firefox in an additional insulated environment created using the AppARMOR mechanism, which will add protection to the rest of the system from vulnerabilities in the browser.
The downside of snap applications is that it is difficult to monitor the community development of packages and bindings to additional tools and third-party infrastructure. The snapd process is carried out with root privileges, which creates additional threats in the event of infrastructure breaches or vulnerabilities discovered. The downside is that snap-specific formatting issues need to be addressed.
