Sometimes native version of app is installed instead of ours #1426
Description
If you try to install a deb-get package and your distro already has a package of the same name, it's possible that the native package will be installed instead. If the version in deb-get is newer, this usually shouldn't happen. The higher version should take priority.
However, in Ubuntu some of their packages, notably Firefox and Chromium, are actually just a dummy package that installs the snap version. For whatever reason, they assign a version number to these "dummy" packages that seems to always take priority. For example, with our Firefox package, the snap gets installed instead of the intended PPA version.
I've also tested manually installing deb files of Firefox. Initially, the deb will be installed as you'd expect. But the next time you run apt upgrade, it will be replaced with the snap.
Setting a pin in /etc/apt/preferences.d solves this.
While looking into this, I noticed that even the current package for Firefox isn't working properly. It ends up installing the snap instead of the PPA, at least in newer Ubuntu versions. I think apt pinning would be necessary in order to make it work correctly.
jet@kubuntu:~/shared-folder$ ./deb-get install firefox --2025-04-01 20:02:10-- https://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x738BEB9321D1AAEC13EA9391AEBDF4819BE21867 Resolving keyserver.ubuntu.com (keyserver.ubuntu.com)... 185.125.188.27, 185.125.188.26, 2620:2d:4000:1007::70c, ... Connecting to keyserver.ubuntu.com (keyserver.ubuntu.com)|185.125.188.27|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 1688 (1.6K) [application/pgp-keys] Saving to: ‘/usr/share/keyrings/mozillateam-ubuntu-ppa-oracular-archive-keyring’ /usr/share/keyrings/mozillat 100%[===========================================>] 1.65K --.-KB/s in 0s 2025-04-01 20:02:10 (264 MB/s) - ‘/usr/share/keyrings/mozillateam-ubuntu-ppa-oracular-archive-keyring’ saved [1688/1688] [+] Updating: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozillateam-ubuntu-ppa-oracular.list Get:1 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu oracular InRelease [24.4 kB] Get:2 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu oracular/main i386 Packages [2,192 B] Get:3 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu oracular/main amd64 Packages [34.2 kB] Get:4 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu oracular/main Translation-en [7,144 B] Fetched 67.9 kB in 2s (41.3 kB/s) Reading package lists... Done Preconfiguring packages ... Selecting previously unselected package firefox. (Reading database ... 238713 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb ... => Installing the firefox snap ==> Checking connectivity with the snap store ==> Installing the firefox snap firefox 137.0-2 from Mozilla✓ installed => Snap installation complete Unpacking firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu6) ... Setting up firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu6) ... update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.18-1) ...
Originally posted by @silentJET85 in #1328