Right way to install snapd in my particular system

snapd
1

This is a corporate environment. Home is set to /u/mike where u is a NFS share with /u/mike directory permission set as drwx------ There is no /home/mike.

OS: Rocky Linux 9.6 (Blue Onyx) with Cinnamon

I have installed snapd and then snap store using the official instructions for Rocky Installing snap on Rocky Linux | Snapcraft documentation.

I can see the App Center icon. However when I click on it nothing happens.

image

I then set homedirs following the instructions from here Home directories outside of '/home' | Snapcraft documentation

sudo snap set system homedirs=/u/mike

If I click on App Center icon, it still does nothing

/apps>snap version
snap    2.68.3-0.el9
snapd   2.68.3-0.el9
series  16
rocky   9.6
kernel  5.14.0-570.18.1.el9_6.x86_64

What is the right way to install snapd in my system? Where can I see logs to check why nothing happens if I click the App Center icon?

2

Locate the snap that is supposed to provide the App Center application by running the following command in the terminal:

snap list

Then, launch the application by running the following command:

snap run _snap_name_

This should print whatever goes wrong in your configuration.

1 Like
3

Try to run an application from the command line, e.g. snap run firefox. Even better, run with debug logs SNAPD_DEBUG=1 snap run firefox and paste the output.

Since it’s SELinux enabled system, make note of the output of ausearch -m AVC before and after you tried to run a snap. If there’s anything new, paste the output as well.

2 Likes
4

The reason I am behind App Center is that I want to install apps via UI and not via command. Since I haven’t been able to launch App Center yet, I haven’t installed any snap yet.

/apps>snap list
Name               Version          Rev    Tracking       Publisher    Notes
bare               1.0              5      latest/stable  canonical**  base
core22             20250528         2010   latest/stable  canonical**  base
gnome-42-2204      0+git.38ea591    202    latest/stable  canonical**  -
gtk-common-themes  0.1-81-g442e511  1535   latest/stable  canonical**  -
snap-store         0+git.90575829   1270   2/stable       canonical**  -
snapd              2.70             24792  latest/stable  canonical**  snapd

/apps>ausearch -m AVC
Error opening config file (Permission denied)
NOTE - using built-in end_of_event_timeout: 2
NOTE - using built-in logs: /var/log/audit/audit.log
Error opening /var/log/audit/audit.log (Permission denied)

The following command launched App Center UI, but reported errors. Do the errors convey why nothing happens when I click App Center? If so, how do I fix it?

/apps>SNAPD_DEBUG=1 snap run snap-store
2025/07/09 17:36:15.818386 tool_linux.go:69: DEBUG: re-exec not supported on distro "rocky" yet
2025/07/09 17:36:15.819246 logger.go:273: DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"start", "time":"1752082575.819242"}
2025/07/09 17:36:15.819435 apparmor.go:401: DEBUG: apparmor parser err: file does not exist
2025/07/09 17:36:15.829822 cmd_run.go:1268: DEBUG: executing snap-confine from /usr/libexec/snapd/snap-confine
2025/07/09 17:36:15.835791 cmd_run.go:439: DEBUG: SELinux not enabled
2025/07/09 17:36:15.837972 tracking.go:48: DEBUG: creating transient scope snap.snap-store.snap-store
2025/07/09 17:36:15.839030 tracking.go:217: DEBUG: using session bus
2025/07/09 17:36:15.840582 tracking.go:350: DEBUG: create transient scope job: /org/freedesktop/systemd1/job/661
2025/07/09 17:36:15.849703 tracking.go:450: DEBUG: job result is "done"
2025/07/09 17:36:15.849775 tracking.go:457: DEBUG: transient scope snap.snap-store.snap-store-87da8d0b-f951-45b7-a651-996419e56e1e.scope created
2025/07/09 17:36:15.850015 tracking.go:153: DEBUG: waited 10.882349ms for tracking
2025/07/09 17:36:15.850049 logger.go:273: DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"snap to snap-confine", "time":"1752082575.850046"}
DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"snap-confine enter", "time":"1752082575.852810"}
DEBUG: SNAP_MOUNT_DIR (probed): /var/lib/snapd/snap
DEBUG: umask reset, old umask was  022
DEBUG: security tag: snap.snap-store.snap-store
DEBUG: executable:   /usr/lib/snapd/snap-exec
DEBUG: confinement:  non-classic
DEBUG: base snap:    core22
DEBUG: ruid: 26499, euid: 0, suid: 0
DEBUG: rgid: 20, egid: 20, sgid: 20
DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"snap-confine mount namespace start", "time":"1752082575.853649"}
DEBUG: creating lock directory /run/snapd/lock (if missing)
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:0 (change: yes)
DEBUG: opening lock directory /run/snapd/lock
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: opening lock file: /run/snapd/lock/.lock
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:0 (change: yes)
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: sanity timeout initialized and set for 30 seconds
DEBUG: acquiring exclusive lock (scope (global), uid 0)
DEBUG: sanity timeout reset and disabled
DEBUG: ensuring that snap mount directory is shared
DEBUG: unsharing snap namespace directory
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:0 (change: yes)
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: releasing lock 5
DEBUG: opened snap-update-ns executable as file descriptor 5
DEBUG: opened snap-discard-ns executable as file descriptor 6
DEBUG: creating lock directory /run/snapd/lock (if missing)
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:0 (change: yes)
DEBUG: opening lock directory /run/snapd/lock
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: opening lock file: /run/snapd/lock/snap-store.lock
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:0 (change: yes)
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: sanity timeout initialized and set for 30 seconds
DEBUG: acquiring exclusive lock (scope snap-store, uid 0)
DEBUG: sanity timeout reset and disabled
DEBUG: initializing mount namespace: snap-store
DEBUG: device cgroup not required due to base core22
DEBUG: setting up device cgroup, mode "optional"
DEBUG: libudev has current tags support
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0 has matching current tag
DEBUG: get bpf object at path /sys/fs/bpf/snap/snap_snap-store_snap-store
DEBUG: found existing device map
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: get next key for map 8
DEBUG: found 21 existing entries in devices map
DEBUG: delete key for c 226:128
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 1:7
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 226:0
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 1:3
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 5:0
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 1:8
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 137:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 251:0
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 136:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 141:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 140:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 5:2
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 10:239
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 5:1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 1:9
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 1:5
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 10:200
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 142:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 139:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 138:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: delete key for c 143:-1
DEBUG: delete elem in map 8
DEBUG: load program of type 0xf, 33 instructions
DEBUG: v2 allow c 1:3
DEBUG: v2 allow c 1:5
DEBUG: v2 allow c 1:7
DEBUG: v2 allow c 1:8
DEBUG: v2 allow c 1:9
DEBUG: v2 allow c 5:0
DEBUG: v2 allow c 5:1
DEBUG: v2 allow c 5:2
DEBUG: v2 allow c 136:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 137:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 138:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 139:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 140:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 141:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 142:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 143:4294967295
DEBUG: v2 allow c 10:239
DEBUG: v2 allow c 10:200
DEBUG: inspecting type of device: /dev/dri/card0
DEBUG: v2 allow c 226:0
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-1 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-1
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-2 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-2
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-3 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-3
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-4 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-4
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-5 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-5
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-6 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-6
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-7 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-7
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-8 has matching current tag
DEBUG: cannot get major/minor numbers for syspath /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/card0/card0-Virtual-8
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:0f.0/drm/renderD128 has matching current tag
DEBUG: inspecting type of device: /dev/dri/renderD128
DEBUG: v2 allow c 226:128
DEBUG: device /sys/devices/virtual/dma_heap/system has matching current tag
DEBUG: inspecting type of device: /dev/dma_heap/system
DEBUG: v2 allow c 251:0
DEBUG: process in cgroup /user.slice/user-26499.slice/user@26499.service/app.slice/snap.snap-store.snap-store-87da8d0b-f951-45b7-a651-996419e56e1e.scope
DEBUG: cgroup /sys/fs/cgroup//user.slice/user-26499.slice/user@26499.service/app.slice/snap.snap-store.snap-store-87da8d0b-f951-45b7-a651-996419e56e1e.scope opened at 10
DEBUG: attach type 0x6 program 9 to cgroup 10
DEBUG: associated snap application process 2330968 with device cgroup snap.snap-store.snap-store
DEBUG: forked support process 2330984
DEBUG: helper process waiting for command
DEBUG: sanity timeout initialized and set for 30 seconds
DEBUG: block device of snap core22, revision 2010 is 7:0
DEBUG: sanity timeout initialized and set for 30 seconds
DEBUG: joining preserved mount namespace for inspection
DEBUG: found base snap device 7:0 on /usr
DEBUG: sanity timeout reset and disabled
DEBUG: preserved mount is not stale, reusing
DEBUG: joined preserved mount namespace snap-store
DEBUG: joining preserved per-user mount namespace
DEBUG: unsharing the mount namespace (per-user)
DEBUG: sc_setup_user_mounts: snap-store
DEBUG: performing operation: (disabled) use debug build to see details
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:0 (change: yes)
DEBUG: calling snapd tool snap-update-ns
DEBUG: waiting for snapd tool snap-update-ns to terminate
change.go:576: DEBUG: current mount entries
change.go:576: DEBUG: desired mount entries (sorted)
change.go:578: DEBUG: - /run/user/26499/doc/by-app/snap.snap-store /run/user/26499/doc none bind,rw,x-snapd.ignore-missing 0 0
change.go:659: DEBUG: desiredIDs: map[/run/user/26499/doc:true]
change.go:660: DEBUG: reuse: map[]
change.go:717: DEBUG: processing mount entries
change.go:711: DEBUG: adding independent entry: /run/user/26499/doc/by-app/snap.snap-store /run/user/26499/doc none bind,rw,x-snapd.ignore-missing 0 0
change.go:779: DEBUG: all mimics:
change.go:576: DEBUG: mount entries ordered as they will be applied
change.go:578: DEBUG: - /run/user/26499/doc/by-app/snap.snap-store /run/user/26499/doc none bind,rw,x-snapd.ignore-missing 0 0
change.go:351: DEBUG: mount name:"/run/user/26499/doc/by-app/snap.snap-store" dir:"/run/user/26499/doc" type:"none" opts:MS_BIND unparsed:"" (error: <nil>)
DEBUG: snap-update-ns finished successfully
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:0 (change: no), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: NOT preserving per-user mount namespace
DEBUG: releasing lock 7
DEBUG: sending command 0 to helper process (pid: 2330984)
DEBUG: waiting for response from helper
DEBUG: sanity timeout reset and disabled
DEBUG: helper process received command 0
DEBUG: helper process exiting
DEBUG: waiting for the helper process to exit
DEBUG: helper process exited normally
DEBUG: resetting PATH to values in sync with core snap
DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"snap-confine mount namespace finish", "time":"1752082575.874175"}
DEBUG: set_effective_identity uid:26499 (change: yes), gid:20 (change: yes)
DEBUG: creating user data directory: /u/mike/snap/snap-store/1270
DEBUG: SELinux not enabled
DEBUG: ruid: 26499, euid: 26499, suid: 0
DEBUG: setting capabilities bounding set
DEBUG: regaining SYS_ADMIN
DEBUG: loading bpf program for security tag snap.snap-store.snap-store
DEBUG: clearing SYS_ADMIN
DEBUG: execv(/usr/lib/snapd/snap-exec, /usr/lib/snapd/snap-exec...)
DEBUG:  argv[1] = snap-store.snap-store
DEBUG: umask restored to  022
DEBUG: cannot open path of the original working directory /apps
DEBUG: the process has been placed in the special void directory
DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"snap-confine to snap-exec", "time":"1752082575.878429"}
2025/07/09 17:36:15.882144 logger.go:273: DEBUG: -- snap startup {"stage":"snap-exec to app", "time":"1752082575.882141"}
Gtk-Message: 17:36:15.960: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"
VMware: No 3D enabled (0, Success).
libGL error: glx: failed to create dri3 screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: vmwgfx
flutter: INFO snap-store: Logging to /u/mike/snap/snap-store/1270/.local/share/snap-store/snap-store.log

(snap-store:2330968): GLib-WARNING **: 17:36:16.156: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (26499)
flutter: INFO appstream: Unsupported locale: C. Defaulting to "en".

** (snap-store:2330968): CRITICAL **: 17:36:16.172: Failed to read XDG desktop portal settings: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.NotFound: Requested setting not found
5

you need to use sudo, or run this as root

this is unexpected, looks like we are not able to even probe the system security correctly?

this may be due to nss, given that it’s logged as a warning, perhaps it’s not a significant issue

looks like you do not have support for desktop portals? or the specific portal that snap-store expected? Perhaps a look at the user or system journal would provide more information (see sudo journal --no-pager)

Note, since you’re running on Rocky, the snap application sandbox quite as tight and a lot accesses aren’t mediated by it. However, since you seem to have been able to start an application, but then it failed on some missing desktop integration which is normally expected to be present. Also, I would expect SELinux to be active, but the logs indicate that it may be inactive? Which perhaps is true, but it could equally well be a local policy that even prevents probing that. Maybe you can run sestatus ? If your system is locked down such that you cannot even run things with sudo, I’m afraid this limits any debugging options as well.

6

I have sudo privileges

/apps>sudo ausearch -m AVC
[sudo] password for mike: 
<no matches>

/apps>sestatus -v
SELinux status:                 disabled

/apps>snap run snap-store
Gtk-Message: 06:07:37.464: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"
VMware: No 3D enabled (0, Success).
libGL error: glx: failed to create dri3 screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: vmwgfx
** (snap-store:3200462): CRITICAL **: 06:07:37.688: Failed to read XDG desktop portal settings: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.NotFound: Requested setting not found
flutter: INFO snap-store: Logging to /u/mike/snap/snap-store/1270/.local/share/snap-store/snap-store.log
(snap-store:3200462): GLib-WARNING **: 06:07:37.708: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (26499)
flutter: INFO appstream: Unsupported locale: C. Defaulting to "en".
(snap-store:3200462): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 06:07:39.867: ../src/gobject/gsignal.c:2777: instance '0x559fbe1aa460' has no handler with id '162'
** (snap-store:3200462): WARNING **: 06:07:39.929: Attempted to set message handler on an FlBinaryMessenger without an engine
** (snap-store:3200462): WARNING **: 06:07:39.929: Attempted to set message handler on an FlBinaryMessenger without an engine

/apps>sudo journalctl --since "2025-07-10 06:07:34" --until "2025-07-10 06:07:39" --no-pager
[sudo] password for mike: 
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [INFO ] Using default X.509 certificate: /etc/xrdp/cert.pem
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [INFO ] Using default X.509 key file: /etc/xrdp/key.pem
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] libxrdp_force_read: header read error
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] [ITU-T X.224] Connection Sequence: CR-TPDU (Connection Request) failed
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] xrdp_sec_incoming: xrdp_iso_incoming failed
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] xrdp_rdp_incoming: xrdp_sec_incoming failed
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] xrdp_process_main_loop: libxrdp_process_incoming failed
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] xrdp_iso_send: trans_write_copy_s failed
Jul 10 06:07:34 mikesrocky xrdp[3200443]: [ERROR] Sending [ITU T.125] DisconnectProviderUltimatum failed
Jul 10 06:07:37 mikesrocky systemd[3968]: Started snap.snap-store.snap-store-84fd80e8-9efe-4832-b374-5a74ee0fc952.scope.
Jul 10 06:07:37 mikesrocky xrdp-chansrv[3982]: [ERROR] clipboard_event_selection_request: unknown target text/plain;charset=utf-8
Jul 10 06:07:38 mikesrocky snapd[697599]: storehelpers.go:916: cannot refresh: snap has no updates available: "bare", "core22", "gnome-42-2204", "gtk-common-themes", "snap-store", "snapd"
Jul 10 06:07:39 mikesrocky systemd[3968]: snap.snap-store.snap-store-84fd80e8-9efe-4832-b374-5a74ee0fc952.scope: Consumed 1.699s CPU time.
7

Just out of curiosity, can you install the hello snap (snap install hello) and then run it?

8 
/apps>sudo snap install hello
[sudo] password for mike: 
hello 2.10 from Canonical** installed

/apps>snap list
Name               Version          Rev    Tracking       Publisher    Notes
bare               1.0              5      latest/stable  canonical**  base
core20             20250526         2599   latest/stable  canonical**  base
core22             20250528         2010   latest/stable  canonical**  base
gnome-42-2204      0+git.38ea591    202    latest/stable  canonical**  -
gtk-common-themes  0.1-81-g442e511  1535   latest/stable  canonical**  -
hello              2.10             42     latest/stable  canonical**  -
snap-store         0+git.90575829   1270   2/stable       canonical**  -
snapd              2.70             24792  latest/stable  canonical**  snapd

/apps>snap run hello
Hello, world!
9

Ok, the basics seem to work. Can you try the ohmygiraffe snap?

10 
/apps>sudo snap install ohmygiraffe
ohmygiraffe 2.0 from James Tigert (kz6fittycent) installed

/apps>snap run ohmygiraffe
/u/mike/Downloads was removed, reassigning DOWNLOAD to homedir
libpxbackend-1.0.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load module: /u/mike/snap/ohmygiraffe/common/.cache/gio-modules/libgiolibproxy.so
[ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to connect PipeWire event context (errno: 112)
VMware: No 3D enabled (0, Success).
glx: failed to create dri3 screen
failed to load driver: vmwgfx

image
image1022Ă—662 51.8 KB

11

Does it work ok? The logs suggest there may be an issue loading the video driver. Are you using a VM or something?

12

Indeed its a VM.

I was able to play the game using mouse. Not sure that’s how its played. Couldn’t find instructions to play with keyboard.

13

That sounds ok. To sum up, a trivial non graphical snap works as expected, a more complex graphical snap works as well. What doesn’t work is the snap-store. At this point, I’d suggest to file a bug with the snap-store folks:

$ snap info snap-store |grep contact
contact:   https://bugs.launchpad.net/snap-store/
14

Filed a bug report. Thanks.