Ubuntu – How to install a program from a PPA that is listed as being for 12.04 when I’m using 11.10

ppa

I would like to install a program from a PPA that has both Oneiric and Precise versions of the same program. The Precise version of the program is 2.2 whereas the Oneiric version is 2.0

If I try an install the normal way through the software centre or the terminal, the Oneiric 2.0 version will be installed. Is there an easy way to force Ubuntu to install the Precise version?

Best Answer

Edit the file inside /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ listing the ppa and change the distribution name from oneiric to precise. Of course you may run into dependency problems when you try to install as the precise version may depend on libraries from precise.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to install Eclipse

If you've downloaded Eclipse from their official website, follow these steps for the installation.

Extract the eclipse.XX.YY.tar.gz using
```
tar -zxvf eclipse.XX.YY.tar.gz
```
Become root and Copy the extracted folder to /opt
```
sudo mv eclipse.XX.YY /opt
```

Create a desktop file and install it:

gedit eclipse.desktop

and copy the following to the eclipse.desktop file

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Eclipse 
Type=Application
Exec=env UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 eclipse44
Terminal=false
Icon=eclipse
Comment=Integrated Development Environment
NoDisplay=false
Categories=Development;IDE;
Name[en]=Eclipse

and make sure that it has executable permission, then execute the following command to automatically install it in the unity:

sudo desktop-file-install eclipse.desktop

Create a symlink in /usr/local/bin using

sudo ln -s /opt/eclipse/eclipse /usr/local/bin/eclipse44

For eclipse icon to be displayed in dash, eclipse icon can be added as
```
sudo cp /opt/eclipse/icon.xpm /usr/share/pixmaps/eclipse.xpm
```
Don't forget that you need to have either OpenJDK or Sun Java installed to be able to run eclipse. Check this question for more information about Java installation. Here is a simple example of installing Open JDK 1.6:
```
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk
```
Launch Eclipse and then give it the required permissions to modify the osgi file:
```
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /opt/eclipse/configuration/org.eclipse.osgi
```
NB! You must launch Eclipse first, because the org.eclipse.osgi directory is created only after the first launch.

That's it.

Ubuntu – How to (de)activate a PPA from the command-line with a single command

Even a simpler script to toggle between activating or deactivating a particular ppa. Save the code given below in a file, for instance toggle_ppa.sh.

#!/bin/bash
#
# toggle_ppa.sh
#
# created by souravc (https://askubuntu.com/users/127327/)
# modified by Glutanimate (https://askubuntu.com/users/81372/)
#
# originally released at https://askubuntu.com/q/383605/81372
#
# DESCRIPTION:  Detects if a PPA is active/inactive and deactivates/activates it
#               on user confirmation.
#
# USAGE:        toggle_ppa.sh ppa:launchpaduser/ppaname

### VARIABLES

SOURCEDIRECTORY=/etc/apt/sources.list.d
PPA="$1"

### USAGE CHECKS

## Arguments

if [ -z "$PPA" ]
then
    echo "Error: Please provide a PPA name to toggle between activation/deactivation"
    echo "The PPA name should be formatted as it appears on launchpad, e.g.:
"$0" ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager"
    exit 1
fi

## Root privileges

if [ "$(whoami)" != "root" ]; then
  echo "Error: This script needs root privileges. Restarting..."
  sudo "$0" "$1"
  exit
fi

### MAIN

SOURCELIST_NOPFX="${PPA#*:}" #remove 'ppa:' prefix
SOURCELIST="${SOURCELIST_NOPFX////-}"-$(lsb_release -cs) #replace all slashes with dashes, include release
SOURCEFILE="$SOURCEDIRECTORY"/"$SOURCELIST".list #compose sources list path

if [ -e "$SOURCEFILE" ]
then
    echo "Processing $SOURCEFILE..."
    SOURCE_COMMENTED=$(grep "^\#deb\ " "$SOURCEFILE") #check if sources line is commented
    if [ -z "$SOURCE_COMMENTED" ]
    then
        echo "$PPA is active. Going to deactivate. Proceed? [ y/n ]"
        read ANSWER
        if [ $ANSWER == "y" ]
        then
            sed -i "s/^deb\-src/\#deb\-src/" $SOURCEFILE
            sed -i "s/^deb\ http/\#deb\ http/" $SOURCEFILE
            echo "Updating package index files..."
            sudo apt-get update
            echo "Done."
        else
            echo "Aborted."
            exit 0
        fi
    else
        echo "$PPA is inactive. Going to activate. Proceed? [ y/n ]"
        read ANSWER
        if [ $ANSWER == "y" ]
        then
            sed -i "s/^\#deb\-src/deb\-src/" $SOURCEFILE
            sed -i "s/^\#deb\ http/deb\ http/" $SOURCEFILE
            echo "Updating package index files..."
            sudo apt-get update
            echo "Done."
        else
            echo "Aborted."
            exit 0
        fi
    fi
else
    echo "Error: Source file at $SOURCEFILE for $PPA does not exist. Please check PPA name."
    exit 0
fi

Follow the procedure given at the other answer to keep file in PATH and make it executable.

Usage

sudo toggle_ppa.sh <full-ppa-name>

Example

sudo toggle_ppa.sh ppa:webupd8team/java

How it works

The working principle of this code is the same as in my other answer. The code acts in a very interactive manner. When someone runs this along with ppa name as its argument, it will display the PPA's current status and what the code is going to do on successful execution. Then it will ask permission of the user. Only if the user inputs 'y' to confirm the code will change the status of the PPA and activate/deactivate it. It will immediately abort if the user puts an 'n' for no.