These days, the internal workings of Linux applications involve many different moving parts. Sometimes, it can be rather difficult to debug them when things go wrong or run slower than expected. Tracing an application’s execution is one way of understanding potential issues without diving into the source code. To this end, we wrote an app-tracing […]
Security and performance are often mutually exclusive concepts. A great user experience is one that manages to blend the two in a way that does not compromise on robust, solid foundations of security on one hand, and a fast, responsive software interaction on the other. Snaps are self-contained applications, with layered security, and as a […]
The good folks in the Uno Platform community have ported the open-source Windows Calculator to Linux. And they’ve done it quicker than Microsoft could bring their browser to Linux. The calculator is published in the snapstore and can be downloaded right away. If you’re on Ubuntu or you have snapd installed just run: snap install […]
One of the defining features of snaps is their strong security. Snaps are designed to run isolated from the underlying system, with granular control and access to specific resources made possible through a mechanism of interfaces. Think of it as a virtual USB cable – an interface connects a plug with a slot. Security and […]
Snapcraft channels and, consequently, tracks are an important, highly useful element of the snap ecosystem. Tracks enable snap developers to publish multiple supported releases of their application under the same snap name. All snaps must have a default track – called latest, but there can be many others, giving both developers flexibility in how they […]
Snaps come in many shapes and forms: security tools, productivity apps, games, handy utilities, video editing software, and more. Often, most snap package a single application. But snaps can also include services, databases, as well as multiple binaries. How far can this concept scale, you ask? Quite far. There are also some rather unique snaps […]
Updates are an integral part of the software lifecycle. Quite often, they bring improvements, vital security patches – and sometimes, unfortunately, bugs, too. In mission-critical environments, it is important to assert a high degree of oversight and precision over updates. Snaps come with a built-in automatic update mechanism, whereby snaps are refreshed to a new […]