Canonical developer Michael Hall has published today a short update on Snap packaging for the Ubuntu Linux operating system, showing us how easy it is to package any software in the new Snap format.

For those of you not in the loop, the Snap package format was invented by Canonical specifically for the Snappy Ubuntu Core operating system, a slimmed-down, re-architected version of Ubuntu Linux engineered for deployments in embedded and IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

Starting with the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) release, Canonical has surprised the community and implemented out-of-the-box support for Snap packages in the popular Linux kernel-based operating system so that package maintainers get a head start and prepare their software projects for the Snap format.

The other day, we reported on the upcoming features of the Ubuntu MATE 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) operating system, about which project leader Martin Wimpress informed us. One of these new, major changes brought by it was the adoption of the Snap package format for the MATE desktop environment.

We forgot to tell you that, by offering Snaps, software developers will be able to bring users the latest versions of their applications as soon as they're out, without the delays of a few days or even weeks implied by the Debian packaging and the .deb file format.

Krita 3.0 Snap package coming soon

The example presented by Martin Wimpress in his announcement about Ubuntu MATE 16.10 adopting Snap packages to offer users the latest MATE version as soon as it's out was a simple calculator utility called Galculator. However, Canonical's Michael Hall has given us today a much bigger example of Snap packaging, for the Krita 3.0 digital painting software.

"Snap packages aren't just for calculators," said Michel Hall. "Today I snapped up the pre-release version of Krita 3.0 direct from upstream. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected either, it took longer to find the right dependencies and to compile than it took me to create the snapcraft package configs."

So this should be a good enough example for software developers who want to package their apps as Snaps for Ubuntu Linux. To get started with Snap packaging, please check out the official documentation provided by Canonical. As for the Krita Snap package, Michael Hall will personally help the Krita devs build their own Snaps for Krita 3.0 and publishing it in the store.