Linux Mint Distribution Developers that the upcoming release of Linux Mint 20 will not ship snap packages and snapd. Moreover, snapd will not be automatically installed along with other packages installed via APT. If desired, the user will be able to manually install snapd, but adding it with other packages without the user's knowledge will be prohibited.
The essence of the problem is that the Chromium browser is distributed in Ubuntu 20.04 only in the Snap format, and a stub is placed in the DEB repository, when you try to install it, Snapd is installed on the system without asking, a connection is made to the directory , downloads the Chromium snap package and runs the script to migrate the current settings from the $HOME/.config/chromium directory. This deb package in Linux Mint will be replaced with an empty package that does not perform any installation steps, but displays help on where you can get Chromium yourself.
Canonical switched to supplying Chromium only in snap format and stopped generating deb packages Chromium maintainers for all supported branches of Ubuntu. Browser updates come out quite often and new deb packages had to be thoroughly tested every time for regressions for each release of Ubuntu. The use of snap has greatly simplified this process and made it possible to restrict the preparation and testing of only one snap package, common to all Ubuntu variants. In addition, shipping a browser to a snap allows it to run in created using the AppArmor mechanism and protect the rest of the system if a vulnerability is exploited in a browser.
The dissatisfaction of Linux Mint is related to the imposition of the Snap Store service and the loss of control over packages if they are installed from snap. Developers cannot patch such packages, manage their delivery, or audit changes. All snap activity is behind closed doors and is not controlled by the community. Snapd runs on a system with root privileges and represents a large in the event of an infrastructure compromise. There is no option to switch to alternate Snap directories. Linux Mint developers believe that this model is not much different from the supply of proprietary software and are afraid of making uncontrolled changes. Installing snapd without the user's knowledge when trying to install packages through the APT package manager is compared to a backdoor that connects the computer to the Ubuntu Store.
Source: opennet.ru