This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:

This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : I've packaged up Gnash as a snap, for modern linux
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 07-12-2020
Last update : 15-05-2021
URL : https://raymii.org/s/blog/Ive_packaged_up_Gnash_as_a_Snap_for_modern_linux.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---

[![Get it from the Snap Store](https://snapcraft.io/static/images/badges/en/snap-store-white.svg)](https://snapcraft.io/gnash-raymii)

Last week I did something unexpected, I [packaged up Gnash as a snap][2].
Gnash is a GNU flash media player, not updated since 2011, and thus removed
from the Ubuntu 20.04 repositories. The snap packaging is based on work by
[phil roche][4], he wrote about re-packaging older debian packages with an
Ubuntu 18.04/16.04 base layer as a snap. My gnash package is confined (no
`--classic` needed), the source code for the snap [is on my github][3] and on
any snap-enabled distro you can now `snap install gnash-raymii` to enjoy Gnash
again.

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As the code is up [on github][3] and [Phil][4] has his code up as well, you
should be able to easily re-package deb's as snaps as well. Pygopherd comes
to mind, but any package from the Ubuntu repositories you might need fits
the bill, search/replace gnash, test the confinement options and you're done.

Here is a screenshot of Gnash running as a snap:

![gnash snap][6]

**Update: 15-05-2021**

I've updated the gnash snap package on user request to include a few
extra commands, namely `dump-gnash`, `cygnal`, `rtmpget`, `gprocessor`
`flvdumper` and `soldumper`. The main package is now also named
`gnash-raymii`, so you'll no longer need to use the command `gnash-raymii.gnash`,
you can just use `gnash-raymii`. Although the former is kept around for
scripting.

As the snap store tells me, this snap has almost 1500 active installs, way
more than I ever expected. Happy to see that people actually still use gnash.

### Why re-package gnash as a snap?

As you might know, [I sincerely dislike snap][1] and I actively avoid using
it. However, a few co-workers do run Ubuntu and were fiddling around with my
[docker gnash][5] guide, didn't get it to work and asked me for help. As I
recently read [Phil's][4] article and this was a good way to put that into
practice. As Gnash is no longer under active development for almost a decade,
it is not in the Debian/Ubuntu repositories anymore, thus hard to install.
But, Ubuntu 18.04 was the last release to have it in its repositories,
so just as with the Docker guide, I used that as a base. Compiling gnash
by hand is hard due to outdated dependencies (looking at you gstreamer).

I might dislike snaps, as with most of my work I'm pragmatic enough to use
whatever task suits the current situation best, and for this problem snaps
were a good fit. Saves my current and future co-workers a bunch of time.

### Why run gnash?

Some of my work depends on gnash, although it's actively being replaced with
QT. Gnash in our case runs on the framebuffer of an embedded device, no
network connectivity, no external input, so almost no risk.

For development and testing we sometimes need to run gnash on my workstation
with an SSH port forward to a development board. We can then locally interact
with the UI. Also, the development board does not require a screen, which
saves time and space in the development setup.

We don't want the coffee machines to end up as e-waste in a few years, expected
lifetime with regular maintenance is at least a decade, I suspect we'll use
Gnash for just as long. All of our new machines use QT, but the older ones still
get support and waranty.

Here is gnash running the coffee machine user interface:

![gnash coffee][7]

[2]: https://snapcraft.io/gnash-raymii
[3]: https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/gnash-snap/
[4]: http://web.archive.org/web/20201207100511/https://philroche.net/2020/10/08/using-snaps-to-package-old-software/
[5]: /s/tutorials/Running_gnash_on_Ubuntu_20.04.html
[6]: /s/inc/img/gnash-snap.png
[7]: /s/inc/img/gnash1.png

---

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