Classic dimension for snappy

This snap allows to run a "classic" ubuntu environment on a Snappy system. This means that the traditional package management tools like apt and dpkg are available in this environment. It also means that tools like gdb, tcpdump, strace and valgrind (to name a few) are just a simple apt install strace away.

How to use it

Run the following commands on an all-snap image:

$ sudo snap install --beta --devmode classic
$ sudo classic
(classic)ubuntu@localhost:~$ sudo apt update
...
(classic)ubuntu@localhost:~$ exit

The environment is very lightweight and full hardware and network access is possible.

Restrictions

Daemons are not started in the classic dimension and all running background binaries will exit when the classic dimension is closed.

Future

We also plan to have a generic snap shell feature, once that lands sudo classic will be replaced with snap shell classic.