RetroFedUbuntu's "AI Kill Switch" Is Achieved By Removing Snaps, Initially Opt-In - Phoronix
not_IOhttps://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-AI-Kill-Switch-Opt-In
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audaxdreikSeager explained in this morning’s update while there won’t be a “global kill switch” for AI features on Ubuntu, their plan is to deliver all the AI features via Snap packages. So removing AI features on Ubuntu will come down to removing Snaps.
IMHO opt-in means the snaps wouldn’t even be on the system unless you had already opted in, but I was never going to use Ubuntu anyways so what does it matter.
Eager Eagleit is, but it’s initially opt-in; meaning the system won’t have AI features, but once it does, you’ll remove them by removing snaps
it’s confusing because the paragraphs they talk about opt-in and removing snaps are different, but 26.10 won’t ship with AI features in a fresh install.
What a coincidence. Snaps being garbage is the reason I quit using Ubuntu.
If I remove a snap and install a deb package, I should not have to do multiple workarounds to stop it from being replaced with the snap package automatically. The firefox snap doesn’t work with a bunch of shit at all.
ZierMaybe Ubuntu should just rename itself to Snap.
So now Ubuntu is the OS where “advanced users can just turn all that crap off”.
Burying the lede:
Lastly, the VP of Engineering did clarify that they will be shipping code in Ubuntu that is co-authored by AI.
“Regarding whether or not we should ship code that was co-authored by an AI - in reality we will be doing this. Even foundational projects in the ecosystem like the Kernel itself now have policies around how to govern this, and will accept tasteful, correct contributions that have been authored with AI.”
Does that mean mint is going to be AI as well? I haven’t heard anything out of that project because I’m not paying attention, but it just seems inevitable.
I can’t speak for them, but they did start the Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) project as a means to escape total reliance on Ubuntu and their unsavory decisions. It does seem inevitable that every distro will eventually have some amount of AI generated code, if they don’t already.
woelkchenIt does seem inevitable that every distro will eventually have some amount of AI generated code, if they don’t already.
100% there is plenty of undeclared “AI assisted” code all over the place already.
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northernlightsOuch, one of the many reasons I use Linux is to not have to debloat my OS when I install it because it shipped with features that are against my interest/enjoyment.
at some point Ubuntu was the most popular distribution. and the fastest growing one.
what’s the most popular one now?
I just use Debian with KDE Plasma. Way cleaner than Ubuntu.
+1 for Debian here, I use it with Gnome and I’m pleased as punch with the stability and the way it stays out of my way when I need to get things done
Im Guessing mint
teftMint Debian Edition if you don’t want the ubuntu bullshit.
That would be CachyOS. https://distrowatch.com/
Pretty sure that page is just number of people looking at it not actually installed popularity. While CachyOS is the currently hyped distro it isn’t one a lot of people should be running. Ubuntu, Mint, and fedora all have more users than Cachy.
Yeah I’ve been meaning to check that out. It’s been hitting my radar exponentially in the last few months, while 6 months ago I’d never even heard of it
Essentially it’s just Arch. Supposedly it makes games run faster, but I in all honesty see no difference at all after using it for a few weeks on my PC and Steam Deck. Your call if you want to give it a shot. https://distrosea.com/select/cachyos/
Depends on usage. I’m starting to see Linux on the types of industrial equipment that used to run the embedded flavours of Windows, and those are usually Ubuntu. When dealing with the developers of miscellaneous projects, Fedora seems to come up quite often, and everything production is Debian.
Fastest growing seems to be CachyOS for some reason. Ubuntu is still the most popular if you count Kubuntu etc, otherwise probably Mint.
I never found Ubuntu stable enough to use. Not when it came out, and certainly not today.
Always on the avoid list. They just keep making decisions that keep it that way.
Welp, I’m currently downloading Bazzite to replace Kubuntu. Let’s hope it goes better than Manjaro did.
I’m currently downloading Bazzite to replace Kubuntu.
Just FYI: If you don’t care for the preinstalled gaming stuff, the same people also make a desktop/workstation flavor named Aurora: https://docs.getaurora.dev/blog/aurora-spring26-update/
I’m in it for the gaming stuff. The prorprietary nvidia drivers were the big seller. That and kde.
Bazzite is literally trash for gaming. Every atomic distro is. It runs into endless problems the moment you try to do anything. Unless your treating your PC as a console and strictly plat games that never have problems. Its just issue after issue after issue.
Cachy would be endlessly better options if your looking for an out for the box gaming experience.
The magic of Linux is Ubuntu is one of countless many distros. One can have great Linux experience and not be forced to use one particular version of it. Be it systemd, snap, flatpak.
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lmao
At this point if snaps are being installed on your system you might want to have a talk with the admin/IT guy, unless you are the admin in which case you do you🤷♀️. Carry on good sir/lady/person.
The AI bros on the other hand are probably drooling all over this as AI and Ubuntu basically goes hand in hand.
But dont come anywhere near my systems please.
Well I need a distro that has documented active directory support to connect to the existing servers. Tried OpenSUSE which had problems just installing let alone running, so Ubuntu is really all there is left. Linux at work is just not as fully featured as Windows unfortunately. Local group policy servers are so useful.
I don’t see a problem if they do it like this.
Operative word here is “initially”
So for me it’ll be an upgrade to 26.04 then stay there till I figure out a migration plan to Debian for my main workstation/server currently on 22.04.
Feels in line with Ubuntu.
Luckily it’s simple enough to switch to a different distro. 🤷♂️
I think I’m going to trust Ubuntu more since the pretty ambitious 25.10 release. They made telemetry opt-in (it was opt-out) in 26.04.
Ubuntu has always been this ugly, slow as shit distro for me. I ran my first Minecraft server on a potato with Ubuntu and it barely worked at all. Just switching to Debian made it viable.
It’s been solid reliable for me since 2004.
Unfortunately, it’s time to change.
How was that stint where they sent your desktop search results to Amazon?
Mild inconvenience, it was a different time, Amazon was still cool among many.
If you didn’t switch to a credible distribution after all the shit Canonical pulled already, you won’t switch away from Ubuntu this time either.
I could get around all their bullshit before and still have a very good, very usable Linux OS.
Now if you remove Snaps, the system breaks. And so if you have to remove Snaps to get rid of the AI… I mean, I draw the line at forcing Snaps to have a functioning system. But the AI is the cherry on top of the swirl of shit this distro is about to become.
I think I made my mind. I’m going to go with Tumbleweed. I was thinking Debian, but it’s missing too many quality of life features and it’s a bit old.
On a potato you were supposed to use Xubuntu or Lubuntu, not Gnome.
Well it was headless, so
You mean you ran Ubuntu Server and found it slow?! That’s amazing, specially back then. Truly a potato.
Since, like I said, the machine ran just fine with Debian, it probably wasn’t the machine.
I had really hoped Ubuntu would find some way to get themselves right. For all the new users who might switch via Ubuntu or stay with it out of familiarity :(
All these nonsense comments…
So you need to remove separate snaps per feature? Ok that makes sense? I dont think you need to remove all snaps, or that installing snap would add AI features?
Think, people…