It's A Long Road Ahead To Get Ubuntu Snappy On The Desktop

The session concerning bringing Snappy package management to the Ubuntu Linux desktop just ended during today's Ubuntu Online Summit.

Expressed already leading up to this Ubuntu 15.10 development summit was plans to switch Ubuntu's Desktop-Next to Snappy instead of the existing Debian packages. At some yet to be determined point in the future, Ubuntu desktop proper would switch over to being Snappy-based. Over the conventional Debian packages, the Snappy approach to package management and system updating is designed to be faster, more reliable, transactional, and with stronger security

At this morning's session about Snappy for the Ubuntu 15.10 cycle, they laid out their plans and the long TODO list ahead. They'll start by trying to make a big Snappy image with all of the desktop included. They'll then begin porting the common applications over to Snap packages like a file manager, web browser, messaging app, media player, the Unity 8 greeter, etc. There's also major obstacles that must be overcome like working out X11 legacy support, simple XMir window manager, and enabling copy and paste between Unity 8 and X applications.

Those interested in Snappy for the Ubuntu desktop can watch the session video embedded below or checkout the brief notes via summit.ubuntu.com.