Software management in Ubuntu 13.10

Complementing Package Sources

In Software Center, you can download from external repositories using Edit | Software Sources. To use the Opera project's external sources, for example, click Other Software and Add, then enter deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free. This address wasn't invented: Usually, the address is the website for the external repository. Click the Add Source button to accept the repository (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Obtain additional packages from external repositories.

The search won't find all programs. Software Center hides libraries, developer files, and even programs without graphical interfaces, such as the mplayer command interface. To install these programs, choose Show technical items at the bottom of the window or enter the full name of the software in the search field (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: Additional libraries, developer files, and programs are listed as technical items.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install inkscape

This sequence happens to mount the PPA for the Inkscape vector drawing solution. For other software, simply replace the parts after ppa: and sudo apt-get install. Take the text for the part after ppa: from the website (Figure 7). It may take a while for the repository to appear in Software Center.

Figure 7: In this PPA, you'll find the current packages for Raring Ringtail to install the Inkscape design application.

Removing Software

To remove software, open Software Center again, search for the name of the software, and click Remove. The configuration data is thereby unaffected. The advantage is that you don't need to reconfigure the software if you decide you need it again later. If these remnants (such as you might find in the /etc or /var directories) were to disappear, use the command line to remove the package.