Some server stuff is hit too! I learned about this pattern through the BGP daemon 'frr'. No idea how many server packages are/may be captured by Snap, but it's worth being aware of. Imagine my surprise. Remove it and bam, no networking.
Doing a quick test on 24.04: on a system without snapd installed, `apt install frr` installs packages and not any Snap stuff. Will have to see about 26.04 when I get a moment.
Thanks for digging in, as I mentioned earlier in this thread/another [lost track], I haven't messed with this in at least two LTS releases. Good to see it's aware at install time; this wasn't always the case.
How about the inverse, purging? At one point, removing Snap would lose BGP announcements [through the loss of the 'frr' software/service it was managing].
Anyway, I'm willing to believe most of my install/dependency-resolution pain was inspired by [and limited to] 18.04 or whatever was immediately after. We had a fleet of systems inadvertently moved to Snap, only learned through a loss of announcements on removal.
edit: Tested on a 24.04 box I had laying around; removing Snap does indeed still rip out things one might want:
Likely fine in your case, where if memory serves, you're removing Snap in the image/provisioning stage. Cooks in busy kitchens may still be surprised, however. The real problem appears solved: 'you' get the software 'you' asked for.