14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical's Sergio Schvezov informs all users of the Snappy Ubuntu Core operating system for embedded and IoT (Internet of Things) devices about the release of the Snapcraft 0.5 snaps creation utility.
According to the release notes, Snapcraft 0.5 is the last feature release in the series, as from now on, the Snappy developers at Canonical will concentrate their efforts only on bugfixes for the upcoming Snapcraft 1.0 release.
Highlights of Snapcraft 0.5 include the addition of the node.js/npm plugin, the implementation of the nil third-party plugin, better support for handling shebangs for services and binaries, and cleaning of individual parts for Snapcraft.
Recommends are no longer installed for packages, a source subdirectory keyword has been added for parts, the go plugin has received various improvements, including a go-packages keyword and support for building locally.
Furthermore, the python plugin has received a pip-packages keyword so that it won't need to write a requirements.txt file, several minor enhancements have been implemented in the catkin plugin, the copy plugin has received support for better test coverage and globs.
"We are happy to announce this release new version (0.5) of snapcraft," says Sergio Schvezov. "This release introduces quite a few bug fixes and some nice little things. This release has many other bug fixes and improvements."
Snapcraft 2.0 is coming for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
And now for the good news, as the Snappy Ubuntu developers have announced their plans for the next major release of Snapcraft, version 2.0, which will be available next year before the debut of the upcoming Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system.
Snapcraft 0.5 is available now for the Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr), Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) and Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) operating systems, so if you want to install it, you must run the following commands in the Terminal app.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install snapcraft