Software update programs - which to keep and which to remove?

Question

$ dpkg -l | grep softwar
ii  brltty                                        6.4-4ubuntu3                                amd64        Access software for a blind person using a braille display
ii  docbook-xml                                   4.5-11                                      all          standard XML documentation system for software and systems
ii  espeak-ng-data:amd64                          1.50+dfsg-10                                amd64        Multi-lingual software speech synthesizer: speech data files
ii  gnome-software                                41.5-2ubuntu2                               amd64        Software Center for GNOME
ii  gnome-software-common                         41.5-2ubuntu2                               all          Software Center for GNOME (common files)
ii  gnome-software-plugin-flatpak                 41.5-2ubuntu2                               amd64        Flatpak support for GNOME Software
ii  gnome-software-plugin-snap                    41.5-2ubuntu2                               amd64        Snap support for GNOME Software
ii  libdv4:amd64                                  1.0.0-14build1                              amd64        software library for DV format digital video (runtime lib)
ii  libespeak-ng1:amd64                           1.50+dfsg-10                                amd64        Multi-lingual software speech synthesizer: shared library
ii  libfluidsynth-dev:amd64                       2.2.5-1                                     amd64        Real-time MIDI software synthesizer (development files)
ii  libfluidsynth3:amd64                          2.2.5-1                                     amd64        Real-time MIDI software synthesizer (runtime library)
ii  libqpdf28:amd64                               10.6.3-1                                    amd64        runtime library for PDF transformation/inspection software
ii  libwildmidi2:amd64                            0.4.3-1                                     amd64        software MIDI player library
ii  python3-software-properties                   0.99.22.7                                   all          manage the repositories that you install software from
ii  software-properties-common                    0.99.22.7                                   all          manage the repositories that you install software from (common)
ii  software-properties-gtk                       0.99.22.7                                   all          manage the repositories that you install software from (gtk)
ii  steam:i386                                    1:1.0.0.74-1ubuntu2                         i386         Valve's Steam digital software delivery system
ii  xbrlapi                                       6.4-4ubuntu3                                amd64        Access software for a blind person using a braille display - xbrlapi

The above shows a Ubuntu 22.04 system having two types of software update files. Namely, :

gnome-software, gnome-software-common, gnome-software-plugin-flatpak, gnome-software-plugin-snap
python3-software-properties, software-properties-common and software-properties-gtk

On the dock, these two app icons are present(see below). Both programs do the same job.

Am I correct to think that only one of them is needed? Which should I uninstall to avoid duplicated programs residing in the system?

Not really AFAIK ... The latter is a dependency for the former as well as for other important packages. — Raffa, Sep 02 '23 at 11:17
@Raffa Based on what you wrote, would it mean the former is redundant since the latter is not dependent on the former and they both do the same job? — Sun Bear, Sep 02 '23 at 11:24
The other orange one is called snap-store ... And yes, in this case and as long as you have the gnome-software-plugin-snap installed as well, those two actually do almost the same job and one of them can be uninstalled although you don't have or need to. — Raffa, Sep 02 '23 at 11:26
What I meant in my first comment was python3-software-properties at your numbered 2 point ... That one is a needed so leave it. — Raffa, Sep 02 '23 at 11:27
Snap apps still have file permission issues like https://askubuntu.com/q/1484241/124466, which the apt versions of the same apps do not have — Archisman Panigrahi, Sep 02 '23 at 14:05
@ArchismanPanigrahi Inkscape should be installed via PPA (i.e. apt) or AppImage and should not be via Snap... See (Inscape) — Sun Bear, Sep 04 '23 at 09:25

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 02 '23 at 12:12

The orange icon is the "Snap store". That is the default Ubuntu software center. It is based on the Gnome Software center, but is installed as a snap package. Thus, it does not appear in the output of dpkg -l, but will appear in the output of snap list as snap-store.

The gray icon is the Gnome Software center. It appears in your list as the gnome-software packages. It is not by default installed on an Ubuntu 22.04. If it is present on your system, then that is because either you installed it, or you upgraded on top of an install of an older release.

Am I correct to think that only one of them is needed?

Yes, you are correct.

Which should I uninstall to avoid duplicated programs residing in the system?

gnome-software if you want to use the software store that by defauls comes with Ubuntu. Use sudo apt autoremove gnome-software to remove it and all its dependencies that are not needed for other software.

I noticed that gnome-software has the following plugin gnome-software-plugin-flatpak. Does the default snap-store program have a plugin to manage programs installed via flatpak? — Sun Bear, Sep 02 '23 at 13:26

Software update programs - which to keep and which to remove?

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