Deb-based desktop is not going away

Ubuntu Core Desktop is back, baby

Canonical has announced it’s ‘accelerating’ development of Ubuntu Core Desktop, its immutable, snap-based version of its desktop OS.

Ubuntu Core Desktop was announced in 2023 and made available in a preview form, but despite the general notion of the immutable build being the future of the distro, there’s been no clear momentum or direction on when or how it’ll get there.

That’s changing, says Jon Seager, the VP of Engineering at Canonical.

A newly-formed Ubuntu Core Desktop team within Canonical will work on getting Ubuntu Core Desktop into shape ahead of the 27.04 release next year. But Seager says the classic, Deb-based Ubuntu desktop is not going away.

Ahead of Ubuntu 27.04, which will begin offering daily builds of Ubuntu Core Desktop, three use-cases will be worked towards:

• Browser-based workflows
• Developer workstations
• Gaming systems

Don’t expect miracles too soon.

Creating all-Snap Ubuntu experienceis on-par with a traditional Deb-based version will not be easy. For one, the entire desktop environment needs become a snap (the plan is to allow KDE Plasma to be installed too).

And then there’s an “app gap” problem. A swathe of popular Linux software that folks rely on for their day-to-day computing is not available on the Snap Store, or isn’t available officially or is, but not all features work, and so on.

Developers in particular will need to access alternative packaging systems – yes, perhaps even Flatpak – which Ubuntu Core Desktop will need to account for using virtualisation and containerisation – in a way users aren’t left bewildered by.

A lot of technical challenges are in the way – some call that the fun part!

Seager says the long-term ambition is to make Ubuntu Core (and snaps, to an extent) the “de facto target for Linux applications and workflows, and the default Ubuntu experience on the desktop, in the data centre and at the edge”.

Ubuntu Core Desktop will offer a “safer, more resilient, more trustworthy and future-proof Ubuntu”, Seager says, that users will “have a blast using”.

Me? I’m glad there’ll be another Ubuntu development cycle with plenty of hashtagcontent to cover.

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