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After a Long Time, Ubuntu Shows Some Respect to Deb Packages (itsfoss.com)
submitted 1 week ago by cm0002@europe.pub to c/linux@programming.dev
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For years, many Ubuntu users have felt that traditional .deb packages were being gradually sidelined in favor of the Snap ecosystem.

It started quietly. Double-clicking a downloaded .deb file would open it in Archive Manager instead of the installer. Then came controversial changes. Apps like Chromium, Thunderbolt and Firefox began defaulting to Snap packages, even when users tried installing them via the apt command in the terminal.

It continued further as Ubuntu introduced its new Snap Store. In Ubuntu 24.04, it ignored .deb packages completely. Double-clicking a .deb file would open the App Center, but wouldn’t actually install the package and just hang there. That behavior was later reverted after I highlighted it through It's FOSS.

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[-] Tuuktuuk@nord.pub 1 points 1 week ago

What I was missing on KDE was a way to switch between programs without going through a bazillion windows. At one point I had five Firefox windows open, plus four file managers, and getting to GIMP ended up requiring a lot of keypresses: Firefox -> Firefox -> File manager -> Firefox -> File manager -> GIMP. I would have much preferred just Firefox -> File Manager -> GIMP. Is there a way to switch directly between programs and not between individual windows until I happen to land upon a window belonging to the program I actually need and can then Alt+Tilde to the correct program?

(Also, I think "Tilde" here does not really mean "AltGr+^ followed by space", but instead some other button; probably the one overneath Tab?)

this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
109 points (100.0% liked)

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