How Do You Install Linux Applications?
If you are a command line guru, you call upon your zypper, yum, conary or apt-get from the terminal, and you awk sed grep your way to what you're after. For me, unless I know exactly what package I want--and I often don't--I typically turn to Synaptic, the graphical package manager that graces my Ubuntu notebook. Synaptic is a really nice application, and I've spent untold hours nerdily sifting through the massive software catalog that Ubuntu inherits from Debian. There are six packages in the repositories that match a search for "Software Defined Radio." They hail from the GNU Radio project, and it pleases me to know that when I finally get around to playing with SDR and GNU Radio, they're waiting just a few clicks away. I've also used Synaptic to resolve unasked questions, like when I tried to gauge the health of the java-gnome bindings project by searching for packages with a java-gnome dependency. Like I said, nerdily. I've mentioned favorably Ubuntu's simpler Add/Remove Applications tool in reviews before, but I don't usually use it myself, since I think of myself as a Power User. It turns out, though, that the simpler tool launches faster and searches faster, too. I needed a color picker to help me come up with a color hex with which to customize a Web application. Just after I kicked off a search for "color picker" in Synaptic, I flipped over to the Add/Remove program, typed in the same search and still beat good old Synaptic. So even us Power Users (circa Windows 2000) can learn to benefit from simpler tools--at least some of the time. And happily, during the brief link hunt that I carried out to come up with the apt-get et al howto links from the first paragraph, I learned a couple new terminal tricks. I guess I'm off to play with apt-cache policy now, and inch imperceptibly toward command line gurudom. Nerdily.
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Comments (15)
So... what do you do when the program you want to install isn't available on the repositories? I've searched this week for java6 on the ubuntu6 (Long Term Support) repositories and only java5 (?!) was available. And curiosly that didn't install correctly.
Posted by Auras | January 12, 2008 4:16 AM
Hey Jason,
I like apt-get at the moment because it's quick.
Posted by Roy Schestowitz | January 12, 2008 9:26 AM
Hey Auras -- It looks like Java 6 is available for Dapper Drake, which is the current LTS version, in the dapper-backports repository.
Jason
Posted by Jason Brooks | January 12, 2008 9:01 PM
I must say, apt is very fast in Debian/Ubuntu. Faster than openSUSE's zypper. Much faster.
I wish RPM could autoremove the say apt-get does. Automatically removing dependencies that I no longer need. One time, it saved over 70MB of space on my HDD. Pretty nifty. Nerdily.
Posted by Felipe Alvarez | January 14, 2008 2:02 AM
Smart package manager does a very good job too. It installs just what you need and removes what you do not need anymore as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Package_Manager
Posted by aguspiza | January 14, 2008 12:26 PM
The fact is, it's tough and the more user-friendly installers have their flaws. This isn't gonna make very many people like linux.
So why do we have to install at all? Why not just download a folder with an executable and some data files? I can put a shortcut on the desktop myself, it's a hell of a lot easier than dealing with packages.
Say I want a new game, or maybe a cool graphics editor, or maybe even a program like WINE. All it should take is a simple executable that runs fullscreen or in a window. If it needs to be set up, a simple config program file in the same folder should do. I should not have to alter my system or logon root just to run a new program. Please can we just make programs self-contained?
Posted by Reason | January 18, 2008 1:09 AM
Hey Reason --
I think that the packaging systems are one of Linux's best attributes. A lot of the apps we use share libraries, and the packaging system allows us to update the libraries that multiple apps depend upon in one shot, thereby taking care of security vulnerabilities in multiple apps in one shot.
It can be a pain to have to become root to install an app, but many require some sort of access to root-only resources, so you need to escalate rights to provide access to those resources.
Posted by Jason Brooks | January 18, 2008 3:07 PM
When it comes to core resources then yes, packages are a really good thing. But who spends all the time changing the core OS? ultimately we have a computer so that we can USE it!
when i download an application I just want to run it. how much security is there really if i have to become root to install something i downloaded? Sometimes I can't totally trust sites, but it'd be no problem if it's just a self-contained folder on my home.
the root resources should be accessable (though not changeable) from any user, and self-contained programs should be able to configure themselves to access these resources.
with system tweaks, it's good to have packages, but if linux wants to be user-friendly, we need to stop making everything seem like a system tweak. what would you say?
Posted by Reason | January 21, 2008 4:07 PM
There are a couple more tricks for those in a dire need to recover some HD space i.e. removing dependencies no longer needed as well as configs to packages already removed along with package files that can no longer be downloaded.
Try this,
sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge && sudo deborphan --guess-data | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge; sudo apt-get autoremove; sudo apt-get autoclean
NOTE: You do need to have deborphan installed to carry out the above operations.
Posted by Shaun | February 3, 2008 8:42 AM
Complicated shit. That's why I don't use linux. Windows has worked fine since I havent done anything stupid with it. I think if you're tech savvy enough to use linux, you can easily keep windows XP free of viruses, spyware, etc.
Posted by what | March 15, 2008 11:07 PM
vista sucks though. slows down a perfectly fast computer.
Posted by what | March 15, 2008 11:08 PM
give linux 2 more years. It's on its way to being simpler to use. But sadly far far from it. If your program isn't in the repositories..good luck trying to figure out what to type in some command prompt. Like another user said above. Programs should run like "portable apps" in windows. Just a single click of an .exe file and thats it.
Posted by KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) | March 26, 2008 7:37 PM
If the software is not in the repository but packed as a .deb file, just double click on it and it will install for you. It is a just one click, much better than the next - next - next from windows.
If it depends on core libraries that are not installed it will install it for you. Better than windows that usually just installs everything you will never use and just takes space and memory.
I have installed many softwares like this.
I think some day windows will be as easy as Linux to install software, if Windows user can see how bad is the windows install process.
Posted by marcos | April 4, 2008 10:21 AM
In my understanding (which is far from complete!) there are two major advantages with the linux approach to installing software.
Windows applications are built in isolation, installing a windows application will install everything that program needs to run. Everything. Linux programs make use of a whole raft of packages that provide useful functionality, which is better in two ways: Firstly there's no re-inventing the wheel, if a solution to a particular problem has already been implemented, why do your own?! Secondly it saves space, making new applications lightweight.
My linux installation exists on a 10Gb partition which is half full. I have applications on here that mirror everything I have on my XP partition, yet that needs over 40Gb of space...
The other obvious advantage to having applications dependent on other packages is that useful updates to that package can be enjoyed by all the users of that package as well, fixing security holes, adding new functionality, etc. And with the lovely package managers available, (synaptic, apt, etc.) you don't need to worry about versioning, dependencies, etc. It's all done for you.
I think it's brill!
Posted by george | April 27, 2008 8:12 AM
Average windows users don't care if it's "Brilliant!!!", they don't care that it takes more space as most people aren't using a 1MHz processor, 128mb RAM and a 10GB hard drive. Most people have at least a 80GB HD and aren't that concerned with "space".
They are concerned about having to type commands oro being asked questions, "installe Lib.flt" What? How should I know?
They just want to "click", run through the prompts, and then start using the program.
No Terminals, no complex thinking, no searching for answers.
Most computer users are not "tech savey" nor want to be.
Most people think things that make their life simpler is "Brilliant!!!", not the other way around.
Posted by John | May 13, 2008 6:08 PM