Snap package for FreeCAD

Source code repository for distributing FreeCAD on Linux using the snap packaging format.

If you are just looking for a way to get FreeCAD on your Linux-based OS, you can skip to the installation:

About FreeCAD

FreeCAD is a parametric 3D modeler. Parametric modeling allows you to easily modify your design by going back into your model history and changing its parameters. FreeCAD is open source (LGPL license) and completely modular, allowing for very advanced extension and customization.

FreeCAD is multiplatfom, and reads and writes many open file formats such as STEP, IGES, STL and others.

Visit the upstream project: https://www.freecad.org/ and https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/

Channels

There are multiple installation channels for this snap:

• stable contains the latest upstream release, i.e. the most recent tagged commit. Use this if you don't know what you're doing.
• edge contains automated (daily) builds from the latest master commit. Use this to test new features. Might be unstable.
• beta contains automated weekly promotions from edge. Use this if you want edge with fewer updates.
• candidate contains release candidate (RC) builds. Use this if you want to test release candidates before a major release.

Apps/Commands

There are multiple apps/commands included in the snap:

• freecad.freecad: Run FreeCAD, can be executed simply as freecad
• freecad.cmd: Run FreeCAD command line interface
• freecad.pip: Install python packages for user (not system-wide). E.g. freecad.pip install py_slvs for Assembly3.

Accessing 3rd-party devices (samba, usb etc..) via FreeCAD Snap

sudo snap connect freecad:removable-media

Reference: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1226304/how-do-i-access-mounted-hard-drive-with-a-snap-application

Parallel Installs

Running multiple snaps AKA 'Parallel Installs' (parallel but separate).

By default, snap packages that have several 'channels' will share configs between them. For testing purposes sometimes this isn't wanted, the solution per the snapcraft docs is using the parallel install feature.

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, interface connections, data locations, services, applications and aliases.

Note: at the time of writing the parallel install feature is still considered experimental.

In the context of FreeCAD, this feature can be useful for example if there are experimental changes (in an experimental build) to the FreeCAD config files that could corrupt the snap stable or snap edge channel FreeCAD config files.

Example: Install edge snap in parallel to the stable snap

# Enable experimental parallel instances feature. You only need to do this once
$ sudo snap set system experimental.parallel-instances=true

# Install freecad snap from channel edge as 'freecad_edge'
$ sudo snap install freecad_edge --channel=edge
# run FreeCAD from this parallel install
$ freecad_edge