How to use PPA in Ubuntu system? Complete guide to using PPA in Ubuntu Linux

If you are using Ubuntu, or other derivative versions such as Linux Mint, Linux Lite, or Zorin OS, you may encounter the added use of PPA. What is PPA? Why use PPA? How to properly add, use, and is PPA safe? Here is how to use PPA in Ubuntu systems.

What is PPA and why use it

PPA full name Personal Package Archive, as the name suggests is "personal package archive". Before you formally understand PPA, you should first understand the concept of "repository" in Linux:

Repository and package management concepts

A repository is a set of files that contain version information and details about various software, such as "checksums." Each Ubuntu release has its own 4 official "repositories" :

Main Canonical supported free and open source software Universe community maintained free and open source software Restricted devices proprietary driver Multiverse software limited by copyright and legality issues

You can click to view Repositories for all Ubuntu versions, or you can view dedicated repositories on the page, such as the Ubuntu 16.04 Main repository. Simply put, a "repository" is a Web URL that contains information about the software.

So how does the system know where the "repository" is located? This information is stored in the sources.list file in the /etc/apt directory. If you look at the text file, you can see the URL of the repository.

When you execute the sudo apt update command, the Ubuntu system uses the APT tool to check the online "repository" and store information about the software and its version in the cache. When you install the software with sudo apt install package_name, the system uses this information to get the package from the URL where the actual software is stored.

If there is no information about a package in the repository, the following error is returned in Terminal:

E: Unable to locate package

After introducing some basic information about the repository, we can begin to understand the PPA.

What is PPA

As you can see, Ubuntu's "repository" controls the versions of software that users can get on the system. But if an ISV or developer releases a new version of the software, Ubuntu's official "repository" is not immediately available. In order to ensure system stability, the official source will check whether the new version is compatible with the system, so after the release of the new version of the software, users will not be able to obtain the latest software version through the official "repository" of Ubuntu for a short time.

On the other hand, the official repository only provides "stable" software, and if an ISV wants to release a software version for beta testing, it cannot do so through the official source.

In the above situations, you need to use PPA.

How is PPA used and how does it work

PPA means personal package archiving, note the word "personal", which implies that this is something unique to the developer and is not officially endorsed by the distribution.

Ubuntu provides a platform called Launchpad that enables software developers to create their own repositories, making it easy for end users to add PPA repositories to sources.list. When the user updates the system, the Ubuntu system knows the availability of the new software and can install it using the standard sudo apt install package_name command, such as:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dr-akulavich/lighttable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lighttable-installer

To summarize the above command:

• The sudo add-apt-repository command adds the PPA repository to the sources.list list
• sudo apt-get update This command updates the list of software packages
• The sudo apt-get install command is used to install the software package

Now let's break it down in detail:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dr-akulavich/lighttable

The URL of the repository is not listed in the above command because the tool is designed to abstract information about the URL. If you add ppa:dr-akulavich/lighttable, the Light Table will be available. If you add ppa:dr-akulavich, you will be able to get all repositories or packages in the Upper Repository.

Basically, when you add A repository with add-apt-repository, you're doing something like this manually:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dr-akulavich/lighttable/ubuntu YOUR_UBUNTU_VERSION_HERE main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/dr-akulavich/lighttable/ubuntu YOUR_UBUNTU_VERSION_HERE main

The above two commands are the traditional way to add a repository to sources.list, and the configuration of the sources.list file is done automatically when a PPA is added without the user knowing the exact repository URL and operating system version, which is quite automated.

It is important to note that when using PPA it does not change the original sources.list configuration file in Ubuntu, but instead creates the list file and the corresponding backup file (save extension) in the /etc/apt.sources.list.d/ directory according to best practices.

This is a safety measure to ensure that PPA is added without contaminating the original sources.list, and it also AIDS PPA removal.

Official and unofficial PPA

You may also have heard of official PPAs and unofficial PPAs, what is the difference between the two?

When a software developer or developer creates a PPA for their software, it is called an official PPA. Sometimes, however, individuals create PPAs for other developers' projects. Why would anyone do that? Mainly because some developers only provide software source code, and for many ordinary users, source code compilation and installation in Linux is very painful, and through the unofficial PPA created by volunteers, users can easily install and manage the software.

Make sure your Linux distribution can use PPA

There are a few things to keep in mind when using PPA in Ubuntu or other Debian-based Linux distributions:

Not every PPA will work for your specific Linux version. You need to know which version of Ubuntu you are currently using, and the code name is very important. When you go to a PPA's web page, you can see which Ubuntu versions are supported by the PPA.

How to get the PPA web address? Simply search the Internet for PPA names, such as ppa:dr-akulavich/lighttable, to get results in Launchpad, the official PPA hosting platform. You can also search directly on the Launchpad website.

Why doesn't PPA work with all Ubuntu distributions

Ubuntu releases a new version every 6 months, and the PPA must be created for the specific version of the software to adapt, updating the PPA for each Ubuntu version is a tedious task, and maintaining software updates for older versions is not practical. So not all developers or PPA maintainers take the time to do this.

How do I install the application if the PPA does not work with your Linux version?

If the PPA does not work for your Ubuntu version, you can still download the DEB file to install the application. You can click on "View package details" :

You can then click on the package to display more details, and you can also find the source code and DEB files for the package here:

Since Gdebi is much better at handling dependencies, it is recommended to install these DEB files using Gdebi rather than Software Center.

How to remove PPA

It is recommended to delete the software installed through the PPA before deleting the PPA. If you only delete the PPA, the software already installed will remain on the system and will not get any updates yet.

So the question is, how do you tell which applications are installed via PPA?

Find the software installed via PPA

Ubuntu "Software Center" does not include this feature, we can use the "New Liode package Manager" to find out the software installed via PPA:

sudo apt install synaptic

Select "From" in "New Rider Package Manager" :

After you find the packages, you can delete them directly with the "New Lide Package Manager" or execute the "Terminal" command to delete them:

sudo apt remove package_name

After removing the packages installed with the PPA, you can proceed to remove the PPA from the sources.list.

Remove PPA graphically

Go to "Software and Updates" - then to the "Other Software" TAB - and find the PPA you want to remove:

You have two options: you deselect the PPA or use the "Delete" option directly.

The difference is that when you deselect a PPA entry, the ppa_name.list file in /etc/apt.sources.list.d is commented out; If the "Delete" option is selected, the ppaname.list file in the /etc/apt.sources.list.d directory is deleted directly.

Is it safe to use PPA

Due to the simple choice of software installation, PPA is very popular among Debian and Ubuntu user groups. As far as security is concerned, the official PPA can be used without consideration, while the use of unofficial PPA is entirely up to your personal choice.

As a rule of thumb, if the program requires sudo permissions, you should avoid installing the program through a third-party PPA.

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