I am not happy with the silent change from flatpak to snap

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1

My flatpak installed firefox changed to a snap package overnight. Why ? How can you do this without my consent ?

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apt on zorin/ubuntu ships a firefox stub that pulls the snap. an overnight update can swap u over even if u had flatpak before.

check:
-snap list | rg firefox
-flatpak list | rg -i firefox
-apt policy firefox

to dump the snap and go flatpak again:
-sudo snap remove firefox
-flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

then:
-sudo apt-mark hold firefox

so apt doesnt yank the stub back in on the next upgrade.

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3

Welcome to the Forum!

I understand that You are upset. This is related to Ubuntu. You could use the Mozilla-own Repo to install Firefox. They have Instructions for that:

There might look a bit intimidating but it should work fine.

If You are interested in a more drastical Way, I could give You Instructions to completely remove Snap at all and prevent installing again if You wish.

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Well, I do not know what would be more drastical then to follow the instructions on that page.

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The Instructions there are only to add the Mozilla Repo so that You can install Firefox as APT Package directly from Mozilla. Including Language Pack. And it adds a File to prefer that Source. So, it prevents that Firefox gets installed/replaced as Snap Package again.

What I would offer goes further. It removes installed Snap Packges and then Snap itself and prevent that it gets installed again. So, You wouldn't be able to install any Snap Package so easily.

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It's a lot simpler using a tarball install than you think:

Personally I prefer the two more privacy respecting forks of Firefox, zen and LibreWolf.

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@nite_route
A note regarding

sudo apt-mark hold firefox

hold freezes the Firefox package in the APT package manager.
In my view, this prevents the browser from being installed, updated or removed automatically during system updates.
Isn’t that right?

8

yeah hold freezes that apt firefox stub so upgrades wont yank the snap-puller back in. it doesnt freeze flatpak firefox.

flatpak update still bumps org.mozilla.firefox on its own. apt-mark hold only touches the deb named firefox.

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But I would highly recommend to make clear that it would also block the Installation of the .deb Version of Firefox when the Mozilla Repo is added. So, it would be neccessary to revert it back then.