If you’re utilizing Canonical’s Steam snap to enjoy gaming on Ubuntu, you might be happy to learn that several noteworthy performance enhancements are starting to make their way in.
Valve advises Ubuntu users to stick with the official Steam DEB for the optimal experience, but many Ubuntu users appreciate the ease of use provided by the unofficial Steam snap that Canonical maintains and is accessible through App Center.
The latest version of snapd, which is the tool responsible for installing, managing, and configuring snap applications, includes a few updates aimed at enhancing the performance of the Steam snap in particular.
Snapd 2.65 introduces the removal of “all AppArmor and seccomp restrictions to improve user experience”.
This does not imply that Steam operates without a sandbox; rather, the Steam snap maintains a greater degree of control over its own containers (Steam functions more as a framework than a singular application, consisting of numerous components and parts).
There are comprehensive discussions regarding the necessity for changes in confinement for the Steam snap, with a snap developer remarking on the permission profile:
“Currently, Steam will possess effectively boundless permissions to execute whatever it desires; we may refine this security on a case-by-case basis, particularly as snapd introduces new features that could facilitate more precise control.”
Indeed, snapd now allows for detailed user control due to the Prompting Client option in Ubuntu 24.10, which you can enable from the Security Center. This prompts you to grant authorization whenever a snap application attempts to access directories beyond its sandbox.
Steam Snap Opens Faster Too
Anecdotally, the latest Steam snap release paired with snapd 2.65 is also reported to open faster than before, with launch times on-par with those of the DEB version. They’re also reported to be a couple seconds faster1 than the Steam Flatpak.
No fighting!
It could just be my experience, but I tend to notice that Flatpaks seem to launch more slowly on Ubuntu compared to Fedora. This might be a personal perception, or it could be a result of Ubuntu’s specific configurations. Earlier this year, stricter AppArmor policies caused some popular Flatpak applications to become unusable.
While this isn’t directly related to Steam, it is somewhat significant from a gaming perspective; snapd 2.65 has introduced enhancements to the snap-confine and OpenGL interface that improve compatibility with NVIDIA drivers.
With Ubuntu 24.10 now defaulting to Wayland for NVIDIA devices, these updates might ensure that all snap applications function optimally in Wayland on NVIDIA, potentially including Steam. Then again, I’m not clairvoyant.
If you happen to utilize the Steam snap, keep an eye out for the snapd 2.65 update (assuming you haven’t received it yet). According to the change-log and some preliminary testing, it seems to provide an improved overall experience, allowing you to concentrate more on playing and less on any frustrations.
Thank you, James!
- Don’t get too upset about which format is quicker; it’s only about a 2-second difference. Like many others, I would prefer a reliable application in a format that opens slightly slower rather than a problematic version that launches a bit faster – your mileage may vary. ↩︎