How to add a PPA to Ubuntu
I noticed over the weekend that the search term bringing most visitors to this blog was “how to add a PPA to Ubuntu” and variants.
So, here’s a screencast showing you how.
For more, see our help guide.
Update: here’s a video showing how to do it with the Ubuntu Software Centre.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:13 am
Anyway to use PPAs in Debian?
April 19th, 2011 at 7:54 am
It would be awesome if there was a file extension .ppa (or .rep to make it more general with all repositories) which included the repository line, an icon, and possibly the “default” application set. Then when opening it, it would:
*Open USC
*Explain in USC what this is (telling them that it’s a repository and what it’s for)
*Showing a list of all the software which is available to install from this repository, and one list of software is “updatable”, with checkboxes next to all the software
*All the “default” applications would be checked by default
*Have a button which says “Add PPA and make changes” which will add the PPA and install/update all the software which is checked
This would be so much easier for the human beings! Please reply even if you disagree
April 19th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Why not use the gui in the video ? (http://askubuntu.com/questions/4983/what-are-ppas-and-how-do-i-use-them/5102#5102)
April 19th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
The terminal is probably a bit quicker, that’s the main reason. I’d be happy to do another video using the Software Centre but this way works pretty well.
April 21st, 2011 at 3:11 pm
[…] On Monday I posted a video showing how to add a PPA to Ubuntu using a terminal. […]
May 15th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
What so many Ubuntu aficionado can’t seem to fathom is that many users are, and always will be intimidated by the terminal. I find it frustrating that everywhere you look on the web, it’s all about using the terminal to install programs or adding PPAs. To you and some users, quicker is better, but for many others, what’s the rush?!? The Gui takes a few more seconds, but it is far more user-friendly to them. IMHO this attitude does not help propagate Ubuntu. It’s about choice, and we should always give the choice to users when possible: terminal AND Gui.
So thanks to “Why no GUI” for posting the link, I’ll keep it for future reference for when I have to help someone.
P.S. Jean-Philippe: I totally agree!
January 30th, 2013 at 11:56 pm
[…] http://blog.launchpad.net/ppa/how-to-add-a-ppa-to-ubuntu […]
May 6th, 2013 at 10:18 am
I completely agree as well. There should be an easy way to enable users to add PPA _without_ resorting to the command line. It’s really surprising Canonical does not care about this since it will be a big boost to new comers to Linux who wants to get things installed via a GUI and don’t want to bother with the command line.
February 10th, 2014 at 10:56 pm
Hallo Jasem…
There is a way to do add a repository without the shell.
However it’s not realy handy and involves downloading the key and following the instructions provided on every ppa page…