13.1 Managing Software with Snap

The apt tool installs software that is packaged in .deb files. A package installed using apt will often be dependent upon other packages that will also need to be installed in order to function. During an installation, apt will also download and install these additional package dependencies.

Consider a graphics design app which depends on a particular imaging library. During installation, apt will install the graphics app package in addition to the package containing the library on which it depends. Now, assume that the user decides to install a different graphics tool that also relies on the same graphics library. Usually this would not be a problem since the apps will both share the same library, but problems may occur if the two apps rely on different versions of the library. Installing the second app may, therefore, stop the first app from working correctly.

Another limitation of apt and .deb packages is that it is difficult to have two different...