Ubuntu has almost everything that you need in your everyday work.But it may happen that you need some extra softwares or codecs for your movies or songs.Ubuntu takes care of that too.
Everything in ubuntu is installed as packages....you can think of those packages as exe in
Windows for the time being(actually only the .deb format sofwares are like the exe in Windows)
You can also uninstall these packages too...just like you remove the softwares in windows.
There are four methods to install softwares on Ubuntu:
1. Using Ubuntu Software Center.
2. Using Synaptic Package Manager.
3. Compiling form source/Using debian packages(.deb files).
4. The Command Line way.
Let's get started.....
First some terminology....
1.APT: Advanced Package Tool, describes the entire system of online repositories and the
parts that download them and install them.This will be more clear when we deal with
the command line way.
2.Repositories or software channel:These are like online warehouse of softwares...both
official and unofficial.
3.Packages: Apps are stored in packages.They describe how you install,run and uninstall
programs.
4.Dependencies: These are other softwares or packages needed to run a particular software.
Just like you need Java Runtime Environment(JRE) to run your Java apps.
Now...let's get familiar with the four methods to install softwares:
1.Using Software Center: Installing softwares with Ubuntu Software Center is like child's play.
Just open Ubuntu Software centre.
Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center.
Search for your app and click install. Nice and Simple..
2.Synaptic Package Manager: This is a powerful tool wich manages apps as well as packages
for your system.This is a bit complicated than the software
center but when you know what you are doing or you have a
better understanding of your system this is the thing!!...to
launch it System->Adminstration->Synaptic package manager.
Just search for package,Mark for installation.A dialog box
pops up if the package has dependencies.Just mark those
dependencies.Click on apply to start installation.To remove
packages just search for them and for uninstallation and click
apply.
3.Compiling from source/Using debian package:If you don't find the software in ubuntu
software center, don't worry.Search for your software on Google and
go to the software's website and download the package as tarball
(.tar.gz package) or .deb package.
.deb is very easy to install.Just double-click it and install...but tarball is
installed somewhat differently. The steps are:
1.Extract the .tar.gz package to a directory.
2.Open the terminal and go to that directory in which you extracted
the tarball.
3. Run the command: ./configure
This will configure the software for your system.If you get
errors install the dependencies first.
4.Now Run the command: make
This will compile the source and produce executable binaries.
5.Now Run the command: make install
This will install the software at proper locations.
4. The command line way: I like this most...it makes you feel like a geek....;).To add
repositories use the
command:sudo apt-add-repository [repository name usuallay like ppa: ....]
After adding repository run :sudo ap-get update (This updates package list
from all repositories.)
Then run: sudo apt-get install [package name] (This installs the package).
You can use sudo apt-get remove [package name] (to remove the package ).
To check where your packages were installed run the command: dpkg -L [name of package]
That's it for this post....
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