Canonical has been called out for making it harder than ever for users to install .deb, with It’s FOSS News saying the company is displaying “Microsoft-esque arrogance.”

Canonical has been pushing its own Snap packaging format in recent Ubuntu releases. Like its competitor Flatpak, Snap is an effort to give users the ability to install the latest and greatest software, regardless of whether they are running a rolling release Linux distro or an older long-term support (LTS) one. Unlike Flatpaks, however, Snaps are relatively unpopular and not used much outside of Ubuntu.

As It’s FOSS points out, Canonical has made it harder to install .deb files—the native app package format for Debian and Ubuntu-based systems—by removing the built-in Software Center’s ability to install them. In previous versions, double-clicking on a .deb package would open the file in the Software Center and prompt the user to install it.

The blog accurately points out that .deb files can still be installed via the Terminal, or by using a third-party app like Eddy or Gdebi, but most new users won’t know about those options.

The move appears to be a deliberate attempt by Canonical to push people toward its Snap format, especially since the issue was raised when Ubuntu 23.10 was still in beta last year. Unfortunately, according to recent posts on GitHub, it seems unlikely that Ubuntu will address the issue.

Canonical developer Steve Langasek said the following:

This bug report is getting some new attention by way of trade press. As an Ubuntu developer and member of the Ubuntu Technical Board, I want to weigh in on the bug.

In the short term, we should fix desktop-file-utils to not declare the snap store as a handler for .debs. It doesn’t handle them, so this is clearly incorrect.

In the long term, I believe this bug asking for automatic desktop handling of .debs through the snap store should be won’t fix.

According Langasek, third-party .deb files represent a possible attack vector:

Every third-party apt repository you enable on your system is an attack vector.

Every third-party deb you install directly on your system is an attack vector.

Every third-party app store you enable on your system is also an attack vector.

Unfortunately, Ubuntu’s Snap store has had multiple incidents involving malware, raising questions about how much better of an option Ubuntu’s Snaps are. While what Langasek said is true, that third-party .debs represent a possible attack vector, Canonical should still provide a way for users who understand and accept the risk to easily install them.