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<p>Paul Nijjar via kwlug-disc wrote on 2026-04-01 13:39:</p>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; display: block; width: 98vw;">> How does this solution allow me to control versions?
</span>
<p>Info here:</p>
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<p><small class="site" style="font-weight:lighter;">snapcraft.io</small></p>
<p> <a href="#"
style="font-weight:600; text-decoration:none;"><big
class="title">Parallel installs</big></a> </p>
<p class="description">Parallel installs enable you to run
multiple instances of the same snap on the same system. Each
instance is completely isolated from all other instances,
including its name, configuration, interfa...</p>
<p> <a
href="https://snapcraft.io/docs/explanation/how-snaps-work/parallel-installs/"
class="url"
style="display:inline-block; text-decoration:none; text-indent:-2ch; margin-inline:2ch;"
title="snapcraft.io">\U0001f517
https://snapcraft.io/docs/explanation/how-snaps-work/parallel-installs/</a>
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<p> </p>
<p></p>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; display: block; width: 98vw;">I've got multiple versions of Node.js, for example. Been a while since I did it, so don't remember details, apologies on that.
</span>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>The process for installing multiple instances of a snap is
identical to installing a single snap except you <em>must</em>
provide a unique identifier, called an <em>instance key</em>,
separated by an underscore (<code
class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">_</span></code>)
from the target snap name.</p>
<p>For example, the following command will install two instances of
the <a class="reference external"
href="https://snapcraft.io/hello-world">hello-world</a> snap
with the second given an instance key of <code
class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">foo</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate">
<div class="highlight">
<pre id="codecell1"><span></span><span class="n">sudo</span> <span
class="n">snap</span> <span class="n">install</span> <span
class="n">hello</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">world</span> <span
class="n">hello</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">world_foo</span>
</pre>
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<p><br>
</p>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; display: block; width: 98vw;">
> My limited understanding of snaps is that they auto-upgrade?
</span><br>
They normally do but can be pinned to a version like any half-way
decent packaging system.<br>
<br>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; display: block; width: 98vw;">Haven't touched them in quite a while, do not recall pinning them, and they haven't upgraded:</span><br>
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap; display: block; width: 98vw;"><font
face="monospace">$ snap list node node_22
Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes
node 18.20.8 9971 18/stable iojs\u2713 classic
node_22 22.14.0 9750 22/stable iojs\u2713 classic</font>
</span>
<p>Perhaps I installed a specific version instead of "latest" they
skip auto-update?</p>
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