A SNAPSHOT is, as its name implies, a snapshot of a program/package/function at the moment it was created. With its added functionalities and improvements or corrections, but also its flaws and no bug-free guarantee. For “Quota 1.2.1 SNAPSHOT”, it is an “in progress” version for the 1.2.1 version, but not the 1.2.1 version itself, that should come at a later point.

Risks: no one tells you it is stable, some more recent snapshots may be created for the aimed version. May contain bugs and if you choose to use it and get troubles, you're on your own. Benefits: if some issues have been identified in a previous version or a previous snapshot for the same aimed version, they may have been corrected. Some stuff that needed improvement may have been improved. Some new functions may have been added but are not considered as completed. It gives you a before-taster of the finished version.

Hi,

Looking at Nuxeo Drive for Nuxeo Platform 5.8, the following packages are available:

• 1.2.4-SNAPSHOT Target platforms : cap-5.8, cap-5.8-HF*
• 1.2.3-SNAPSHOT Target platforms : cap-5.8.0-HF*, cap-5.8
• 1.2.3 Target platforms : cap-5.8.0-HF*, cap-5.8
• 1.2.2-SNAPSHOT Target platforms : cap-5.8.0-HF*, cap-5.8
• 1.2.2 Target platforms : cap-5.8.0-HF*, cap-5.8
• 1.2.1-SNAPSHOT Target platforms : cap-5.8.0-HF07-SNAPSHOT, cap-5.8
• 1.2.1 Target platforms : cap-5.8.0-HF06, cap-5.8
• 1.2.0-SNAPSHOT Target platforms : cap-5.8
• 1.2.0 Target platforms : cap-5.8

For production, you should use the latest release (not SNAPSHOT) from that 1.2.x generation: 1.2.3.

The question is not about what is a snapshot but how they get to the marketplace

The answer is the same: on every code change, a SNAPSHOT is generated and pushed to the Marketplace by the continuous integration if it passes through the tests.