Install Y PPA Manager on Ubuntu and derivatives

Install Y PPA Manager on Ubuntu and derivatives
 

First of all, let’s understand what PPA , and what does it do?

PPA – P ersonal P ackage A rhive or if translated into Russian – a personal package archive . And if even simpler – a warehouse, storage packages and dependencies of an application

There are official and personal repositories

1… Official repository.

By the official repositories are the Ubuntu repositories or other distribution, where collected, tested for compatibility and ukomplentovany all the necessary packages and their dependencies. On the basis of data repositories to facilitate the installation of additional user programs in the system, the developers create a Center application, which is usually installed in the default distribution, where the user easily find the desired application, clicks the Install button and the app is installed on the system.

2. Personal repository.

But in the official repositories are not always the latest versions of software. In this case, some users create their own personal repository (PPA), as official repositories are difficult for normal development, and in general, not every project has a chance to get there. Therefore, service launchpad.net was created for the support and development of free software projects. With the help of this service, any ordinary user has the ability to create your repository, which is within the launchpad called personal package archive (Personal Package Arhive – PPA), and use it to distribute their packages without unnecessary technical difficulties.

I hope I’m not too much “zadurit” head that is official and personal repository. But it is necessary to understand the differences between the official repository of the PPA.

To facilitate the search of a PPA , the developer of Andrew Alin (Alin Andrei) on launchpad.net was established manager – Y PPA manager
Y PPA manager (YPPA) -. graphical management program PPA in the repositories a system that allows the user to view, add, delete, edit, and perform other administrative actions with personal repositories. The manager is also able to search the repository for the desired application.

The program interface Y PPA Manager fairly minimalistic, no-nonsense. The main window contains a button to select a basic function. . Other dialog window as minimalist

Y PPA Manager is integrated into the environment and the panel Unity , which directly from the context menu icon ( right-click on the icon), without opening the main program window, you can choose one or the other manager function:

Features Y PPA Manager :

– add, remove, clean PPA ,
– search packages in the Launchpad PPA ,
-. the list of packages in the PPA
and more
All this from a single user interface. Full list of features you can see on page Launchpad Y PPA Manager .

installation Y PPA Manager in Ubuntu and derivatives

to set the Y PPA Manager , open a terminal, copy and run alternately following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa: webupd8team / y -ppa-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

After the installation, you’ll find Y PPA Manager programs System or search menu:

Conclusion

The official / standard repository stores the stable versions of software, which were issued at the time of your version of Ubuntu and derivatives. Later, to add only security updates.

Third-party programmers difficult to add to the standard repositories their applications. For this purpose, the company Canonical (Ubuntu) and created https://launchpad.net/ repository, which is called PPA. (Personal Packages Archive – personal package archive)

But do not get carried away at the same time the addition of third-party repositories, because It operates a simple rule – more external repositories – less stability. Why? Because not everyone is the creator of a personal repository is a professional developer and some application packages that are not tested for safety, can destabilize the system. In addition, you make yourself dependent on repository owner, often only one person who did not check all installed packages for compatibility, and tomorrow simply abandoned the development of your project

The question then arises, the user will say. “Why Canonical launchpad.net created, if a third-party repository in a connected system can destabilize it? “

1. in the development of Linux distributions and software and Ubuntu in particular, involved the voluntary users, who contribute an invaluable contribution. To do this, and created launchpad.net.
2. But at the same time, Ubuntu developers are not able to quickly check that a personal repository safety.

Therefore, use a personal repository with caution and above all in the system under test, and only then, after some time to check the stability, plug in a working system. What I wrote in the article “10 fatal mistakes that should be avoided in Ubuntu / Linux Mint “ in point 3 .

Good luck.