Philipp Kewisch from Canonical announced the decision not to provide the option to install packages in Flatpak format by default in the official Ubuntu editions. This decision has been agreed upon with the developers of the existing official Ubuntu editions, which include Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, UbuntuKylin, and Ubuntu Unity. Those wishing to use the Flatpak format will need to separately install the supporting package from the repository (deb package flatpak) and, if necessary, activate support for the Flathub repository.
Starting with Ubuntu 23.04, the deb package flatpak and the packages required for Flatpak support in the Software Center will be excluded from the base installation of all official Ubuntu editions. Users of previously installed systems that utilized Flatpak packages will retain the ability to use this format after upgrading to Ubuntu 23.04. Users who have not employed Flatpak after the upgrade will only have access to the Snap Store and the distribution's standard repositories by default.
The official Ubuntu editions will now primarily focus on promoting and developing the Snap package format. According to the distribution's developers, supporting two competing formats only leads to fragmentation rather than concentrating efforts on improving the chosen technologies for the distribution. It is expected that supporting a single format for Ubuntu by default will help maintain ecosystem unity and improve the experience for new users interacting with the distribution.
Source: opennet.ru
