Experimental features

Experimental features are part of the snapd development process. They allow engineering teams to test both the viability of an idea and its implementation.

If an experimental feature is considered unstable or likely to change, they are demarcated by an experimental feature flag, such as the following for Quota groups.

sudo snap set system experimental.quota-groups=true

Request for feedback

We’d be grateful for any feedback users of these experimental features may have. Please leave a comment beneath this forum post, chat to us on Matrix.org, or file an issue in the snapd GitHub repository. Thank you!

Current experimental features

The following table lists all the features considered experimental.

Name

Date Introduced

Enabled by Default

Notes

Layouts

Jun 2018 (snapd 2.33)

YES

Widely used by graphical snaps as they depend on files in the gnome content snaps.

Hotplug support

Jul 2018 (snapd 2.34)

NO

Currently only serial ports are supported (serial-port interface).

Parallel installs

Jun 2018 (snapd 2.34)

NO

Layouts are not working properly with parallel installs due problems with persistent mounts.

snapd-snap

Oct 2018 (snapd 2.36)

NO

Used for triggering the snapd snap install change.

per-user-mount-namespace

Jan 2019 (snapd 2.37)

NO

Refresh app awareness

Mar 2019 (snapd 2.38)

YES

There are some bugs that need to be addressed.

robust-mount-namespace-updates

Nov 2019 (snapd 2.42.3)

YES

No longer considered experimental.

classic-preserves-xdg-runtime-dir

Jan 2020 (snapd 2.43)

YES

No longer considered experimental.

The dbus interface

Aug 2020 (snapd 2.46)

YES

dbus-activation is now supported.

hidden-snap-folder

Aug 2020 (snapd 2.46)

NO

user-daemons

Aug 2020 (snapd 2.46)

NO

Snapcraft needs to enable daemon-scope setting.

Disk space awareness

Sept 2020 (snapd 2.47)

NO

Needs better testing.

gate-auto-refresh-hook

Apr 2021 (snapd 2.50)

NO

Functionality has mostly been replaced by Validation sets.

Quota groups

May 2021 (snapd 2.51)

NO

Memory, CPU and thread quotas have moved out of experimental.

move-snap-home-dir

Jul 2022 (snapd 2.57)

NO

apparmor-prompting

Mar 2024 (snapd 2.62)

NO

Currently under active development.

refresh-app-awareness-ux

Mar 2024 (snapd 2.62)

NO

There are some bugs that need to be addressed and some work on the desktop side.