Ubuntu: Use the Ubuntu Software app to install programs from packages. You’ll find it on the Dock or by searching for software in the Activities search bar. [1] X Research source Linux Mint: Use Software Manager, which comes with the Cinnamon desktop environment, to install applications and Flatpak packages. You’ll find it in your menu under Administration > Software Manager, or by typing software manager into the search bar. Any distribution using the GNOME desktop environment: If you’re using Debian, Fedora, or any other Linux distribution and have the GNOME desktop environment, you can use the GNOME Software tool to install applications from your distribution’s repositories, as well as Flatpak and Snap packages. Just type software and clicking Software on the Activities screen. Any distribution using the KDE desktop environment: Similar to GNOME, KDE has a software center called Discover. [2] X Research source With Discover, you can install applications from your distribution’s own repositories, as well as Flatpak packages, Snaps, Plasma add-ons, and AppImages from store. kde. org. [3] X Research source
Fortunately, you can use tools like Advanced Packaging Tool (Apt) (for Ubuntu and Debian-based systems) and DNF or Yum (on RPM-based systems like RedHat and Fedora) to find newer versions of software from a wider variety of repositories. If you’re using Ubuntu, you can add PPA (Personal Package Archive) repositories using the Apt tool, as well as in Ubuntu Software in Other Software > Add. [4] X Research source If you want the flexibility of Apt without having to learn a bunch of commands, you can use Synaptic, a graphical front-end to Apt. You can also try Flatpak or Snapcraft, both of which have web-based browsing tools that make it easy to browse for and install software for any Linux distro.
Alternatively, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a new terminal window. You can use apt or apt-get in any of the following commands interchangeably, as they do the same thing. apt-get is the older way of using the apt command, but it still works. Apt installs . DEB packages, which are the most common package format for Linux and Debian.
If you’re prompted, enter your user password to run the command. If there’s a package you’re looking for that’s only available from a certain repository, you can add the repository using the add-apt-repository command. Check the instructions for the package you want to install for the repository name, public key, and other information. For example, if you want to install Steam, you can use sudo add-apt-repository multiverse to add the repository. Then, just update the repository list as you did earlier to ensure you can now search for and install software from that repository. If the repository is a PPA repository, such as Mozilla’s repository, preface the repository name with “ppa:” like this: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa.
You will get a list of the matching packages below your search command. For example, you can run sudo apt-cache search “opera-stable” to find the latest stable version of the Opera browser available for install.
For example, run sudo apt-cache show opera-stable to see the package details for the latest stable version of the Opera web browser.
For example, sudo apt-get install opera-stable will install the latest stable version of the Opera web browser.
For example, if you have the stable Opera browser and want to reinstall it, run the sudo apt-get install opera-stable –reinstall command.
Alternatively, you can use the sudo apt-get purge “package name” command. This will remove all the configuration files and personal preferences of the specified app.
Yum was the default package manager for RedHat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, and CentOS until the release of DNF. [5] X Research source The two package managers have identical syntax—typically, when you see instructions for using yum to install packages, you can simply swap out yum with dnf in your command. Because DNF is an improved version of Yum, you’ll want to use DNF instead of Yum unless DNF isn’t available on your older system. If you downloaded a . RPM package from the web, you can use DNF or Yum to install it. To do so, just use the command sudo dnf install packagename. rpm.
If you want to check for updates to installed packages without actually installing the updates, you can use sudo dnf check-update instead. To update only one package, use dnf update packagename. sudo dnf upgrade and sudo dnf update work exactly the same in Linux, both updating all packages, including obsolete ones. If you’re using a Linux version that only has yum, use yum update to update all packages with available updates, or yum upgrade to update all packages including those which are now obsolete. [6] X Research source
Get the URL of the repository, which will end in . repo. For example, http://www. example. com/example. repo Use the command dnf config-manager –add-repo http://www. example. com/example. repo to add the repository. To enable a repository, use {{{1}}}, where reponame is the name of the depository before the . repo extension.
For example, if you want to install the Opera web browser, use sudo dnf search opera. To see all available packages in your repositories, use sudo dnf list available.
It will also be helpful to find out if the package you want to install has any required dependencies. Dependencies are other libraries and applications required by this package to run properly. Use the command dnf repoquery –requires packagename to do this. If there are any required dependencies that you don’t already have, you’ll want to install those first.
You can see a list of all installed packages using sudo dnf list installed.
If you’re using Fedora, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, CentOS, Manjaro, you don’t have to install Flatpak, as it’s already installed. You’ll just need to set up the Flathub repository, which we’ll cover in the next step. On Ubuntu and Debian, use sudo apt install flatpak. On RedHat, run sudo yum install flatpak or sudo dnf install flatpak. On other distributions, go to https://flatpak. org/setup/ and select your Linux version for instructions.
In your web browser, go to https://flathub. org/apps. You can check out different categories or search for something in particular, just like your phone’s app store. Alternatively, you can use flatpak commands in a Terminal window. To search for a particular app (or type of app), open a Terminal and use the command flatpak search search-term. In the results, you’ll see the app’s ID, version, remote location, and a description. For example, to search for Spotify, you’d use flatpak search spotify. To search for music apps in general, you could use flatpak search music or flatpak search streaming.
If you’re browsing on the web, click the ‘Install button to install the app. If you’re using the command line, you’ll need to run a command that uses the app’s ID (e. g. , com. spotify. Client for Spotify) and remote server (e. g. , flathub). The syntax is flatpak install remoteserver appid. For example, flatpak install flathub com. spotify. Client. [9] X Research source To uninstall an app, just replace install with uninstall, and leave out the remote server. For example, flatpak uninstall com. spotify. Client.
For example, flatpak run com. spotify. Client would launch Spotify. To see which Flatpaks are installed, use the command flatpak list.
If you’re using Debian, Synaptic is preinstalled. On Ubuntu, you can install it from Ubuntu Software or using sudo apt-get install synaptic in a Terminal window.
If you need to add a repository to install a particular package, click Settings and select Repositories to edit your repository list. [11] X Research source The repositories in Synaptic are the same repositories available in Apt, which you can also view and edit in /etc/sources. list.
If you need to add a repository to install a particular package, click Settings and select Repositories to edit your repository list. [11] X Research source The repositories in Synaptic are the same repositories available in Apt, which you can also view and edit in /etc/sources. list.
If you need to add a repository to install a particular package, click Settings and select Repositories to edit your repository list. [11] X Research source The repositories in Synaptic are the same repositories available in Apt, which you can also view and edit in /etc/sources. list.
First, update the repository list by pressing Ctrl + R or clicking Reload. Right-click a package and select Mark for Upgrade. Mark additional packages for upgrade if desired, then click Apply. Click Apply again to confirm.
On Debian, KDE Neon, and Pop!_OS, use Apt by entering the commands sudo apt install snapd and then sudo snap install core. On Fedora, use the command sudo dnf install snapd. [13] X Research source On RedHat and CentOS, you can use DNF or YUM. Add the repository first using the command sudo dnf install epel-release. Install Snap using sudo dnf install snapd. Enable Snap using sudo systemctl enable –now snapd. socket.
If this doesn’t work, continue with this method.
This will install the selected app on your computer.
Open a Terminal window. Run sudo apt-get update. Run sudo apt-get install build-essential to install.
cd to the directory in which you saved the file.
If the file ends with .
tgz or .
tar.
gz, run tar -xvf
To read the text file, use cat README (for a file called README) to view the whole file, or more README to read it page-by-page. If you have both files, be sure to read them both. They may both contain important instructions.
If there’s no configure file, double-check the instructions to find out how to compile the program. You can also look for a script called install. sh in the directory. If this file exists, make it executable with chmod u+x install. sh, then run it using this command: . /install-sh If you see an error about missing dependencies or libraries, install whichever dependencies are required before you continue. It’ll be easiest to do this using one of the above package installation methods. After installing the required files, run the configure or install script again.
