Open source smart home platform gains Ubuntu snap packages

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Source: http://linuxgizmos.com/open-source-smart-home-platform-gains-ubuntu-snap-packages/

Canonical has released a Snap package mechanism for running Ubuntu apps under the openHAB smart home stack, complete with Azul’s Zulu Embedded Java Runtime.

Canonical’s snap package management mechanism can now run on the open source, Java-driven openHAB home automation framework, enabling easier deployment and secure updating of Ubuntu apps. Last June, Canonical spun off the secure Ubuntu snap format from its container-like Snappy Ubuntu Core IoT distribution, proposing it as an open source, universal package management solution for all Linux distributions. For now, however, it essentially provides an easy, secure way to download, run, and maintain Ubuntu apps packaged under snap.

The technology enables a one-click download and install from the Ubuntu Appstore LINK, says Canonical. By adding snap packaging within the openHAB smart home stack, developers can more easily build, test, and distribute smart home services, says the Ubuntu project sponsor.

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Also joining the collaboration between Canonical and the openHAB Foundation is Azul Systems, which is packaging its Azul’s Zulu Embedded Java Runtime with the openHAB snap. With this combined offering, openHAB, which requires a Java Runtime to be installed, can be easily packaged and distributed as a single application without click thru licenses, says Canonical. Because openHAB uses the content interface feature of snaps, the application and the Java Runtime can be automatically and individually updated via the Ubuntu App store.

The JVM-based openHAB 2.0 is one of the most popular and comprehensive of the many Linux-compatible open source smart home IoT frameworks now available for free download. In many ways, the cross-platform stack mimics the capabilities of commercial smart home hub frameworks like Wink or Samsung’s SmartThings, most of which — except for Apple HomeKit — run Linux.

openHAB differs from such solutions in several ways: its Java Runtime requirement, its fully open source licensing, and its software-only deployment. In other words, you bring your own hub, which can be a desktop computer, a Raspberry Pi, or many other embedded devices, including the already Ubuntu Core based Nextcloud Box.

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