Does not look to me like it is stalled:
Regarding a complete disablement of refreshes this wont be in any UI if it isn’t also in snapd itself, in the API etc… you won’t disable updates without having backend support in snapd itself…
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It’s good to know this is being worked on. It seems the PR you link will solve the issues of applications refreshing while they are running. Users get enough of an advance warning and can choose when to close the application. @zyga-snapd It might be useful to talk about those PR’s in these threads, I don’t think many people interested in these features are following snapd’s pull requests. This PR shows you are listening and trying to solve the issues discussed in this thread. It’s good to be vocal about that 
Regarding complete disablement of refreshes; I don’t think that is necessary to solve the complaints. I think the main thing people want is to be notified of refreshed before they happen and to have the option to delay certain or all refreshes at that point.
To provide some context; when I have a big demo or presentation, I want to pause all updates until after the demo. I don’t think it’s a good user experience if I need remember to hold all refreshes before each presentation. My system should notify me that it wants to do a refresh and at that time I can make the consideration whether this is a good time to update. Ideally, these notifications should also provide some detail in what the updates entail (like the version change).
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I propose that the “don’t notify me” toggle in the notifications drop-down (on Gnome) or equivalent be used to indicate that you want to suspend updates until you’ve finished doing whatever it is that required you to say “I am busy”.
I think this is a good idea!
It does not solve my use case entirely, but I still think it’s a good idea. The reason why it doesn’t solve my use case is that I will only toggle “don’t notify” during the presentation, not the evening before the presentation. At that time, I still want to receive notifications, I just don’t want any significant changes to my system.
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That feature has been mostly discussed here [WIP] Refresh App Awareness . That thread needs an update. There has been good recent progress in that area.
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Back in 2018 I filed a proposal to have the refresh, hold etc options available via the ‘Software & Updates’ app (software-properties) included by default to manage updates in Ubuntu, do mark yourself as affected by that bug! 
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there is also an interesting attempt at:
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I am a new(-ish) Ubuntu user.
There is one primary reason I decided to finally dump Windows and switch over to Linux.
The reason was that I hated Microsoft deciding for me and deploying new software on my computer without my consent.
I see the benefit for non-savvy users. I still want a way to turn this off. I paid for the computer, I pay for all software (buy software and donate to open-source). The way I see it - I have a natural born right to have full control over my computer and other devices.
I don’t mind if the option to turn off auto-updates is hidden in a deep hierarchy of menus and behind multiple scary warning dialogs. But I want this option.
It needs to be my decision if and when to update. I came to Linux because I thought I would finally have this level of control, only to find out that I’m still going to be treated like a child…
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I’m a loooong-time GNU/Linux and Ubuntu user. I was very disappointed about the current forced update policy of snap!
I’m using Linux setups in professional, custom tailored environments, such as audio recording studios, video digitization workstations, etc.
These machines have very specific hardware/software constellations that need to be thoroughly tested, and once everything plays well together, updates are disabled and only performed manually, cherry-picking which component to update when - and especially if.
I understand security concerns (I’m admin and software developer myself), but a major reason for me to use Linux is that I need to have full control over what happens on our setups. This includes the ability to run a stable setup as long as I want to. If this means requiring a very old version of a certain software: so be it. The freedom to use, study, share and improve - as I see fit.
To quote a previous comment:
It needs to be my decision if and when to update. I came to Linux because I thought I would finally have this level of control, only to find out that I’m still going to be treated like a child…
There are people who want automatic updates, and people who don’t. It has always been that way and there is a reason for it.
Thank you for all your hard work at making Linux an amazingly user-friendly system, but: Please don’t continue patronizing users.
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I am too using my computer to do some actual work.
My experience is that I had been “hacked” 0 time in 21 years, with the same 6 letters password (which is in the p@wned password databases).
On the oposit the last time an update prevented me from working was 1 month ago (MuseScore), and I remember that my setup was broken by upstream bugs in systemd 3 times during the last 2 years, that my setup was broken many times by trying a new kernel (RT for audio), a new Ardour, a new LibreOffice (from so-called “stable” distros repositories). I think the order of magnitude is 100 times in 21 years.
So the point is 100 times broken because of a buggy update released in a “stable” repository, against 0 time hacked.
Here is another example of a catastrophic supply-chain breach that could affect (or has affected) anyone who had their system configured to pull the latest version of the tool: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/04/backdoored-developer-tool-that-stole-credentials-escaped-notice-for-3-months/
I’m not aware of any actual relation to Snap. Just pointing out another incident of people and companies being totally screwed over just for following the “best practice” of keeping all of their software fully up-to-date (or letting a vendor decide for them when it was time to update).
New update-related hack: “A New Kind of Ransomware Tsunami Hits Hundreds of Companies”.
https://www.wired.com/story/kaseya-supply-chain-ransomware-attack-msps/
From the article: “Like MSP attacks, supply chain hacks also have a multiplicative effect; tainting one software update can yield hundreds of victims.”
Stop forcing auto-updates! You are putting your users at risk!
Thanksss snap auto-refresh, you have break my entire cluster with:
/snap/microk8s/2338/bin/dqlite: symbol lookup error: /snap/microk8s/2338/bin/dqlite: undefined symbol: sqlite3_system_errno
Whyyy, I’m a DevOps Engineer & Linux SysAdmin, i need to do upgrade of stable services before in anothers servers and then if all work, then go to the production one… but not, snap is so high that cant disable the auto-update… Please devs (i think that you dont see the point of the sysadmin point of view and a ton of issue about auto update)
FYI this is the exact problem that got me to this thread as well, but there is absolutely 0 developer will and 0 political will because they don’t see this as a problem… yet put server software (like microk8s) on there, and promote it right-front-and-center in their server installer.
That’s the thing, a dev that never worked as SysAdmin will not see autorefresh as a problem… theoretically is good, because is updating “is great and get security updates”, but practically and in enterprise production, auto-update crash things, whe are humans, and the stable branches has issues too (like this one with dqlite & microk8s), so the advice that everyone get is to put the 127.0.0.1 api.snapcraft.io into the servers hosts file, really??? this is the way for a “production” ready tech??? i think that is a joke… please devs, you’re doing a great job, but don’t think only in your environment, so, let the most configuration options to allow the soft be configured by us the sysadmins too. Because even i can’t change the snap repository URL to even create a caché of packages… ufff really is a mess…
This is ok for caché you’re right… but is the same snap store…
The thing is… is so hard put a simple config option to:
-
- Disable snap autorefresh
or
- Disable snap autorefresh
-
- Pin a snap version
Because: Now how i can tell to the user that a WRONG “stable” microk8s update break a cluster of 10 servers with + 100 services… only because devs think that is “the best” way to take care of productions things update…
This happen to me too with the bird daemon with +10 linux gateway acting as software routers, because snap get auto-refresh… great breaks many of that gateways…
Ok, i known that i can put the 127.0.0.1 thing, but that is for a Microsoft App that i cant touch, but Ubuntu really?? an “OpenSource” thing??? i think you’re thinking about things that you need to leave the user thinking, because you dont known who is using snap, can be a simple desktop user, but can be a professional SysAdmin too and the minimun requirements for an admin for a software is get the control… some friends are tell me that this Ubuntu things are converting to MicroUbuntu things, with this kind of crash and autoupdates i thinking this too…
Ok, frankly here’s the problem:
Anyone on the Canonical payroll who is capable of enabling this, won’t do it, because they have an ever-growing list of other things to do. Getting update control on their to-do list requires going through the Guardians of the Galaxy, and prioritising it above whatever else they’re doing. That means architect / design work.
Anyone who isn’t on the Canonical payroll isn’t motivated to do it, because chances are (see above) whatever implementation they come up with may be rejected, or left in pull request limbo.
I started this thread over a year ago, in the hope someone on the snapd team might pick up on the various hints from the community that forced updates with no off-switch was a frequent, frustrating, pain point. Sadly the issues is blocked. I failed internally to get any movement on this. Unless someone has very strong technical and negotiation skills, this won’t happen any time soon. Sorry.
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It’s a feature I hope to support with Project Kebe. The specific manifestation has yet to be determined but it will be on the list.
If you can do this on Ubuntu Core:
https://ubuntu.com/core/docs/refresh-control
We should be able to do it on the desktop. Why not?
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