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Ubuntu Package Management Part 4 PPA Third Party Repository

This beginners guide Part 4 explains PPA and Third-Party Repository in Ubuntu. For your information, Ubuntu community is very huge, so there are many third-party repos available providing many software packages not available in Ubuntu official repos. There are 2 PPA examples to be used here, for GIMP and Inkscape, to show how to add the addresses and install the software packages. The aim of this Part 4 is for you to be able to add any PPA address and install software packages from PPA. This guide is a continuation of Part 3 Sources.list. I hope this part helpful for everyone.

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1) What Is Repository?

2) What Is Third-Party Repository?

3) What Is PPA?

4) Do You Need PPA?

5) Maintain PPA Addresses

4) Find A PPA

• http://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2016/11/list-of-ppa-repositories-for-ubuntu-16.04-xenial-xerus.html
• http://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2016/11/list-of-ppa-repositories-for-ubuntu-16.10-yakkety-yak.html

5) Add A PPA Address as Sources.list

• GIMP PPA by Otto https://launchpad.net/~otto-kesselgulasch/+archive/ubuntu/gimp-edge
• Inkscape PPA by Inkscape Developers Team https://launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/+archive/ubuntu/stable

6) Add PPA Manually

1. Visit the PPA web page address https://launchpad.net/~otto-kesselgulasch/+archive/ubuntu/gimp
2. Look for �Technical details about this PPA� link, click that link, you must see a box appears showing two lines of sources.list.
3. Click �Choose your Ubuntu version button� and select your Ubuntu version from there. This will change the two lines automatically to suit your selected Ubuntu version.
4. Copy the two lines of source code there.
5. $ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
6. Paste the two lines you copied into a new blank line at the most bottom.
7. Save the sources.list file.
8. $ sudo apt-get update

1. Visit the PPA web page address https://launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/+archive/ubuntu/stable.
2. Do point 2 until 8 like the GIMP PPA above.

7) Add PPA via Special Command

1. Visit the PPA web page address https://launchpad.net/~otto-kesselgulasch/+archive/ubuntu/gimp-edge.
2. Look for one address code �ppa:packager_name/ppa_name� and for this case it is ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp-edge.
3. Copy that PPA address code.
4. $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp-edge
5. Terminal will ask for your permission. Press Enter to go next, or press Ctrl+C to cancel.
6. $ sudo apt-get update

1. Visit the PPA web page address https://launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/+archive/ubuntu/stable.
2. Look for one address code �ppa:packager_name/ppa_name� and for this case it is ppa:inkscape.dev/stable.
3. Do point 3 until 6 like GIMP PPA above. 
     

 

8) Install Software from PPA

 

9) Comparing Package Versions

• For GIMP: you see that there are two versions, version 2.9.5 from PPA and version 2.8.18 from official repo.
• For Inkscape: you see that there are two versions, version 0.92 from PPA and version 0.91 from official repo.

10) Remove PPA Address Automatically

11) Remove PPA Address Manually

• $ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
• Look for your PPA address line there, such as gimp-edge or inkscape-stable.
• Delete that lines.
• Save sources.list file.
• $ sudo apt-get update

• Look at /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory.
• Look for any .list file named with your PPA address name, such as gimp-edge or inkscape-stable.
• Assume the PPA address file name is �gimp-edge.list� then the delete command is:
• $ sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gimp-edge.list*
• Then perform a reload:
• $ sudo apt-get update

11) Remove Software Packages from PPA

Additional Information

References

• http://askubuntu.com/questions/4983/what-are-ppas-and-how-do-i-use-them
• http://askubuntu.com/questions/307/how-can-ppas-be-removed
• http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/6766/is-there-is-a-ppa-service-equivalent-in-the-fedora-world

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Ubuntu Package Management Part 2 Basic Apt Get Commands

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Package

In Ubuntu operating system platform, software is �distributed� by Ubuntu developer to all the users. Ubuntu already distributes approximately 80.000 software in the 16.10 version at 2016. Each software is distributed as certain file called �package�. The user installs software in their Ubuntu system also in form of �package�. So in other words working with Ubuntu is working with software packages.

Ubuntu distribution gives two types of package to the users, source code package and binary package. Source package is a file with .tar.gz format while binary package is a file with .deb format. Ubuntu developer puts large efforts to transform all source packages into binary packages so every users can just install the .deb instantly and run the software in their computer. All software packages of Ubuntu distribution stored at some public server named "repository". Every Ubuntu user installs software from this so-called repository.

How APT Works

APT is a complex system composed of apt-get and many other programs. But from end-user point of view, the main concept is simple, this APT system is simply a client of Ubuntu repository server. In other words, APT is a local program in your Ubuntu system to communicate with the Ubuntu repository server. In particular, apt-get is the download manager of APT system to download package from repository.

In technical sense, APT�s main purpose is to resolve dependency, and that�s why people calls APT dependency resolver. APT works by reading Ubuntu internal databases to determine what packages installed and what packages not installed, then doing a calculation resulting complete list of packages need to be installed, and then the apt-get downloads those packages from repository through the network. The final job is actually done by Dpkg to install packages one by one. APT does not install package, APT is just dependency resolver. By downloading, APT stores all packages downloaded at /var/cache/apt/archives/ directory.

In order to work with repository, of course, APT needs the address of the repository itself. This requirement is fulfilled by sources.list settings. The sources.list is actually a text file containing URL addresses of repository and some �codes� to determine what �room� of repository enabled/disabled. The settings is located in /etc/apt/sources.list file. APT system gives more options by providing /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory if the user wants to use third-party repository.

Important Database

APT works with its own �database� in your Ubuntu system located at /var/lib/apt/lists/.  APT database is basically a bunch of text files storing complete information information such as name, URL, size, dependencies, description, etc. of every single of thousand packages from the repository.  To make APT works, first the user must invokes APT to download the �map� from repository (I call it here: reload). Once this "map" completeley obtained, then the user can perform search for any package they want and ask APT to install any package. Without this "map" APT will not work.

1. Reload

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get update

Example:

$ sudo apt-get update

Output:

Explanation:
The update command downloads "repository map". Repository map is database files containing complete information about the repository and all packages inside it. All database files downloaded stored at /var/lib/apt/lists/ as .list files and you can read them using any text editor. Whenever you change your sources.list settings, you should run this update command once. Without this �map�, APT can not download any package. This requires internet connection.

Note: I use the term "Reload" here to avoid confusion between "update" and "upgrade" terms, to make it clear that apt-get update does not install any package. Also, the term "Reload" is used in popular Synaptic Package Manager to express the same thing.

2. Install

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get install <package_name>

Example:

$ sudo apt-get install flowblade

Output:


Explanation:
The install command installs a software from repository. You will be asked firstly for password, type it anyway and press Enter; then you will be asked secondly for permission, type �y� letter anyway and press Enter. The APT will download all packages needed and the software will be installed in your system. Do not close the terminal while the installation progress is still going. Therefore, this requires internet connection.

3. Remove

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get remove <package_name>

Example:

$ sudo apt-get remove firefox

Output:


Explanation:
The remove command uninstalls software from your system. The remove command uninstalls only a single package, it does not uninstalls the package dependencies came with it. After performing this command, you can no longer run the software you removed. This does not require internet connection.

4. Upgrade

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Example:

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Output:

Explanation:
The upgrade command downloads and installs all new version of all packages installed in your system. This command depends on your sources.list settings, so APT can find new version of packages only if the repository you used does provide them. Remember that upgrade is completely different to update: upgrade installs packages while update does not install any.

5. Dist-Upgrade

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Example:

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Output:



Explanation:
The dist-upgrade command is a companion of upgrade command, it helps the upgrade command with a �smart conflict resolution�. To give you the difference between both commands: upgrade does not delete any package, while dist-upgrade may delete packages in order to resolve conflicts. This dist-upgrade is usually performed by the user once upgrade command finished. The dist-upgrade command does only packages upgrade, not system version upgrade, so using it will never upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 into 16.10 for example.

6. Download Only

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get download <package_name>

Example:

$ sudo apt-get download gparted

Output:

Explanation:
The download command downloads package. This shows that apt-get is basically a download manager. This command will not install the package. The package will be downloaded to the same directory as your command line running. For example, when you perform this command without changing directory, then by default the package stored at your $HOME.

7. Simulate

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get --simulate install <package_name>
$ sudo apt-get --simulate upgrade
$ sudo apt-get �simulate dist-upgrade

Example:

$ sudo apt-get --simulate install gparted

Output:


Explanation:
This option --simulate is available for apt-get commands to simulate (dry run) the package management being processed. This option is usable in the install, remove, upgrade, and dist-upgrade commands. The �simulate is extremely useful to prevent any error before installing/upgrading, because it shows the installing/upgrading process without doing the real installing/upgrading. So you will know if installing certain package there will be an error or not by this --simulate. It can be used when offline.

8. Add Repository

Command synopsis:

$ sudo add-apt-repository

Example

$ sudo add-apt-repository deb http://kambing.ui.ac.id/ubuntu yakkety main universe
$ sudo add-apt-repository �ppa:gimp/gimp-stable�

Output: 


Explanation:
This add-apt-repository command is not a part of APT, rather, it is a part of software-properties-common package in Ubuntu. This command is a helper to add new repository address to sources.list easily. This command is very common among majority of Ubuntu desktop users, to add new PPA repository (third party repository) to the system so they can install the software available in that repository. To use it, run it as example, and then read the message retrieved, and then press Enter to continue adding the repository address, and after adding you should do Reload to get "the map" of the new repository. This command should be used online.

Note: the reason I put add-apt-repository is because this command is very famous among PPA users and almost all Ubuntu desktop users use PPA. So for your convenience, I put it here.

9. Print Uris

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get  --print-uris install <package_name>

Example:

$ sudo apt-get --print-uris install gparted

Output:


Explanation:
This option --print-uris shows all download links of a software package installation. So for example if a gparted installation needs two packages to be downloaded, it shows the two download links of two packages. If you download the two packages manually somewhere and install them by Dpkg, you may install gparted software correctly in an offline Ubuntu system. Yes, this option --print-uris is extremely useful for offline users. This option �print-uris can be used when offline, because APT generates all download links from its �repository map� (local database /var/lib/apt/lists/ and its sources.list). Again, apt-get is basically a download manager so it certainly knows all package download links. This does not require any internet connection.

10. Always Yes

Command synopsis:

$ sudo apt-get install --yes <package_name>

Example:

$ sudo apt-get install --yes gparted
$ sudo apt-get remove --yes gparted
$ sudo apt-get upgrade --yes
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --yes

Output:


Explanation:
This option --yes makes the user may leave safely the Terminal while APT is processing. The meaning of --yes here is to answer �y� automatically to APT for all questions possible while doing install/remove/upgrade/dist-upgrade. So, by using this you do not need to answer any further question one by one while doing package management.

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Ubuntu Package Management Part 5 Basic Synaptic

This beginners guide Part 5 explains how to use Synaptic Package Manager, an easy to use GUI program to manage software packages. Synaptic is a replacement to Apt-Get command line for casual end-users, it provides complete options in simple and user-friendly manner. By using Synaptic, you can do easy sources.list editing, proxy + auth setting, install/remove/upgrade package, and so on. And this guide is a continuation of Part 4 PPA & Third-Party Repository. I hope this will be easy and useful for everyone.

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Usage Basic

In using Synaptic, there is a basic usage in 4 points from novice users point of view:

1. user chooses an action or some actions, 
2. Synaptic does wait for users decision,
3. user decides to Apply the chosen action/actions
4. Synaptic does perform the action/actions

In other words, Synaptic will never do install/remove/upgrade package unless the user explicitly decides the action(s) to do. Synaptic is safe to use even for complete beginners.

Reload

The term "Reload" means downloading the "repository maps" mentioned in your system sources.list. Reload is just the same as $ sudo apt-get update command. To do it, press Reload button. 

Search Package

To search a package, type your keyword on the "quick filter" search bar. If you dont see this search bar, click "Search" button.

Install Package

To install package, search for a package > click on white box on the left of the package name > select Mark for Installation > press Apply button. You may mark more than one package and apply them to be installed simultaneously.

Remove Package

To uninstall a package, enable left-panel filter "Status" > search a package > choose any of "Installed" statuses on left-panel > click on the green box on the left of package name > select Mark for Removal > press Apply button. You can mark more than one package to remove them all simultaneously.

Upgrade Package

To upgrade package, enable left-panel filter "Status" > choose "Installed (upgradable)" status > search a package > click on grey box on the left of package name > select Mark for Upgrade > press Apply button.

Repository Setting

Synaptic provides repository setting from menu Settings > Repositories. There you can control your sources.list in an easy GUI way.

Proxy Setting

To change proxy setting, you can visit menu Settings > Preferences > Network. There you can determine your proxy address and your authentication credentials (username & password).

Icon Legend

You can show the explanation of all Synaptic icons from menu Help > Icon Legend.

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