Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Policy Forming For Allowing Snaps By Default

Steve Langasek of Canonical has laid out a draft proposal about allowing Snaps to be shipping by default with the upcoming Ubuntu 18.04 LTS release.

In Ubuntu MATE 17.10 there were the first Snaps by default but for Ubuntu 18.04 proper is when there should be Snaps installed by default.

"We are confident that snaps today represent a solid delivery vehicle for third-party software on top of Ubuntu, and that snaps stand as a first-class alternative to deb packages for Ubuntu users where appropriate," Langasek wrote.

Having Snaps by default on Ubuntu still means a commitment to clean updates, only Snaps from stable channels, and Snaps must be available from source that can be downloaded from Launchpad (weeding out binary-only packages, etc). Maintenance/security policies will be similar for Snaps as with existing Debiasn packages.

More details on this Snap proposal for Ubuntu here and this Wiki page.