Snap packages are widely used all across different Linux distributions. These packages are easier to create, install, and manage and they are there to keep all of your applications updated. However, to use these packages, you need to have an API installed which is known as Snapd. This API is responsible for managing snap packages on your Linux system. It communicates with the Snap Store to download and install snap packages on your Linux system.
Most of the flavors of Linux have this API installed on them by default. However, on some distributions of Linux like Debian, you have to install this API manually so that you can conveniently deal with the snap packages. Therefore, in this article, we will explain to you the method of enabling Snapd on Debian 11.
Enabling Snapd on Debian 11
For enabling Snapd on Debian 10, you will need to perform the following steps:
First of all, you will need to launch the terminal in Debian 10. For doing that, click on the Activities tab located on your Debian 10 desktop. Type terminal in the search bar that appears and then click on the search result to launch the terminal window as shown in the image below:
Before installing any new packages or APIs, it is highly advisable to update your system so that it is all set to install all the latest features. For doing that, type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
sudo apt update
This command is also shown in the following image:
Once this command is executed successfully, you can easily install anything via the Internet. To install Snapd on Debian 10, type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
sudo apt install snapd
This command will take a sufficient amount of time to execute which depends on the speed of your Internet connection. It is shown in the image below:
As soon as this command is executed successfully, you will need to restart your Debian 10 system. This is required for all the paths to be updated correctly. For some systems, even logging out and in will do the required update, however, restarting the system is highly recommended for being on the safer side. As soon as you will restart your Debian 10 system, you will be all set to use the snap packages. Just in case you have no knowledge about using the snap command, the best thing you should do is to read the information about that command. For doing that, type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
snap --help
This command is also shown in the following image:
Once this command is executed successfully, you will be able to see all the essential details about the snap command on your terminal as shown in the image below:
Now the final thing that you should do before actually using the snap packages is to test whether the Snapd API has been installed successfully or not. For doing that, you need to install a snap and see if it is working properly or not. In this example, we have tried to install the hello-world snap. For installing it, you need to type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
snap install hello-world
This command will again take a sufficient time to execute depending on your Internet speed. It is shown in the following image:
As soon as the installation of hello-world snap completes, you will need to type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
hello-world
This command is shown in the image below:
If this command is executed successfully, you will be able to see “Hello World!” written on your terminal as shown in the following image:
Conclusion
Snap packages make your life a lot easier by automatically updating all of your applications. Therefore, to use these packages for managing your application updates, you must have the Snapd API installed on your system. The method discussed in this article explains the step-by-step procedure of enabling this API on Debian 10 and then using it for installing snaps. This method is quite simple and convenient to use. The only concern with the commands used in this method is that they take a handsome amount of time to execute. However, if you have a really good Internet connection, then you do not even have to worry about this issue.