No Snap or FlatPak! Linux Distros Agreed to Have Only One Universal Packaging

Linux is fragmented.

You don't need Torvalds to tell you that, although he has already told you that in the past.

Linux is fragmented on so many fronts, and packaging is the top of them all.

From DEB to RPM, Linux packaging has always been a mess. One packaging format won't work on the other side of distro spectrum. To address the issue, a universal packaging system was concepted that could work on any distro.

Only everyone worked on their own universal formats and we ended up with Snap, Flatpak and AppImage.

Not the ideal situation, I know. Thankfully, I have got good news for you.

Mark this date as I reveal the most shocking development since Linus Torvalds smiled at a conference.

Meet OnePackage: The new universal packaging system for all

The fragmented Linux community has unanimously agreed to adopt a single universal packaging system, putting an end to the decades-long packaging wars that have plagued the open-source ecosystem.

During the OneLinux conference, remotely organized in Greenland, representatives of Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora/Red Hat/IBM, SUSE all agreed to make Linux great again by opting to work on a single packaging system.

The new system, dubbed "OnePackage," will replace the alphabet soup of existing formats including Snap, Flatpak, AppImage, DEB, RPM, and the seventeen other packaging formats that most users didn't even know existed.

Though it is called OnePackage, many users see it as package 2.0 because arrays start at zero.

OnePackage promises to combine the security of Flatpak, the centralization of Snap, the portability of AppImage, and none of the arguments from Reddit threads. The format will also reportedly address the long-standing issue of system bloat by implementing a revolutionary technique known as "actually deleting things you don't need anymore."

A development welcomed by everyone

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, appeared visibly disoriented when asked about abandoning Snap. "I feel strange... like thousands of forum complaints suddenly went silent," he said.

Linux creator Linus Torvalds issued his typically measured response: "About *%$#&@ time! Now we can focus on what really matters—telling people their code is garbage, but constructively."

The transition to OnePackage is scheduled to begin next month, with complete adoption expected by the end of 2055—or "whenever we get around to it," according to the official roadmap document.

The conference was live-streamed and a few Reddit users reported seeing Fedora and Ubuntu developers engaged in a group hug after the announcement—though this remains unconfirmed as the video quality was poor due to everyone using different media codecs.

💬 This is a welcome move. I think next we can work on a unified desktop environment "GDE" or possibly "KNOME." What do you think? Let me know in the comment section.