In the flurry of uploads for the C++ ABI transition and other frantic work (Thursday is Feature Freeze day) this gem maybe went unnoticed:
snapcraft (0.1) wily; urgency=low
* Initial release
What this means? If you’re on wily, you can easily try out snapcraft and get started turning software into snaps. We have some initial docs available on the developer site which should help you find your way around.
This is a 0.1 release, so there are bugs and there might be bigger changes coming your way, but there will also be more docs, more plugins and more good stuff in general. If you’re curious, you might want to sign up for the daily build (just add the ppa:snappy-dev/snapcraft-daily PPA).
Here’s a brilliant example of what snapcraft can do for you: packaging a Java app was never this easy.
If you’re more into client apps, check out Ted’s article on how to create a QML snap.
As you can easily see: the future is on its way and upstreams and app developer will have a much easier time sharing their software.
As I said above: snapcraft is still a 0.1 release. If you want to let us know your feedback and find bugs or propose merges, you can find snapcraft in Launchpad.