Flatpak vs Snaps vs Appimage vs Packages - Linux packaging formats compared

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Linux often gets a bad rap when it comes to installing software, and this is mainly due to the fact that we have so many different application distribution formats. Most of them also are misunderstood, or have preconceived notions attached to them, so I think it’s time to take a look at the differences between the various packaging formats !

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There are 2 main package formats here: the DEB and RPM. Debs are used by Debian and debian based distros like Ubuntu, and RPMs are used by Fedora, Red Hat, or OpenSUSE. Both of these formats are usually pulled straight from the distribution’s repositories, or can be installed manually. They contain a binary version of the application or library you’re trying to install, so it’s already compiled for your system’s architecture. These packages come with a descriptive file that also includes all the various libraries and other applications your program needs to be able to run. These DEB and RPM packages have advantages: they’re fast to install, they’re already compiled for your architecture, and they pull all your dependencies immediately if they’re available. They do have problems though: first, since these packages are distro-specific, app developers need to package their app for multiple distros, multiple versions, and architectures of these distributions.

To fix these problems, the Flatpak format was created. This one differs from the packages in a very important way: while flatpaks are also shipped as binaries, so no compilation needed, they also embark all the libraries they need directly in the package. They can also used shared libraries provided in other flatpaks.

Flatpaks are also relatively quick to install, and can be pulled from repositories called remotes. The biggest one out there is Flathub, which sources most available flatpak applications.

Flatpaks also introduce some issues, mainly in terms of security: while flatpaks are sandboxed, they still can provide outdated versions of libraries that light or might not be kept up to date by the developer. They also use up more space. Flatpaks can run on any distro that have the flatpak package installed, and can be downloaded from most distro’s software centers if they have added the flathub remote.

Snaps are based on the same model generally as flatpaks: they are binary applications shipped in a single package with their own dependencies. They can also make use of runtimes, and ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HuExVD56Bo