The conventional way to download and install software on Ubuntu is to use the Ubuntu Software Centre. This is an excellent system for almost everything you are ever going to need. The software is stored in a repository for you to get it from and everything you need to do is automated. The default repositories have been thoroughly checked by the Ubuntu Community team so that you know it is safe to use.
Sometimes though, you may wish to use software which isn’t in the default repository and are convinced, through online research, that it is safe. In my case, I wanted to use the video editing software, Cinelerra. This isn’t in the default repository. Therefore, I had to use a PPA – a Personal Package Archive! PPAs usually only have one piece of software in them but they can be a collection of different softwares, depending on who has made them. They are usually updated more often than the Ubuntu default repository, which is updated every six months. Once you’ve installed software through a PPA, updates come through the Ubuntu Update Manager in the normal manner, along with all the other updates.
Now this is where using Ubuntu becomes scary or exciting or both, depending on your viewpoint. Instead of finding a nice graphical user interface and using the mouse, as I am accustomed to doing when navigating stuff on my machine, I was obliged to type out Linux command line instructions in the Terminal. You find the Terminal by looking in Applications, then Accessories and there you will see the Terminal.
I just needed to type “sudo add-apt-repository” followed by the name of the PPA I was looking for, i.e. ppa:cinelerra-ppa/ppa – I had already given the Terminal my Super User (su) password, of course, which is the same as my Login to Ubuntu password. To help you install this video editing software, here’s all the code I typed (in bold) with all the responses from the Terminal. scrapper is, of course, my Ubuntu name and Library is the name of the machine I’m working on.
scrapper@Library:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cinelerra-ppa/ppa
Executing: gpg –ignore-time-conflict –no-options –no-default-keyring –secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg –trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg –keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –primary-keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv 60DB64FA8E893E577651CF3DCBDFA02B432BB368 gpg: requesting key 432BB368 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com gpg: key 432BB368: “Launchpad PPA for Cinelerra” not changed gpg: Total number processed: 1 gpg: unchanged: 1
scrapper@Library:~$ sudo apt-get update
Get:1 http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick Release.gpg [72B] Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/main Translation-en Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick Release.gpg Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick Release Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/multiverse Translation-en Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/multiverse Translation-en_GB Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/restricted Translation-en Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/multiverse Translation-en Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/restricted Translation-en_GB Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/universe Translation-en Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/multiverse Translation-en_GB Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/restricted Translation-en Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-security/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security Release Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/restricted Translation-en_GB Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/universe Translation-en Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates Release.gpg Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/main Translation-en Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/multiverse Translation-en Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release.gpg Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra-ppa/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra-ppa/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main Translation-en_GB Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release Hit http://extras.ubuntu.com maverick/main i386 Packages Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/multiverse Translation-en_GB Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick Release Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/restricted Translation-en Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/restricted Translation-en_GB Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/universe Translation-en Ign http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick-updates/universe Translation-en_GB Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick Release Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates Release Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/restricted Sources Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/universe Sources Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/multiverse Sources Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/main i386 Packages Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/restricted i386 Packages Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/universe i386 Packages Hit http://security.ubuntu.com maverick-security/multiverse i386 Packages Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Hit http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/main Sources Err http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main Sources 404 Not Found Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/restricted Sources Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/universe Sources Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/multiverse Sources Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/main i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/restricted i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/universe i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick/multiverse i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/main Sources Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/restricted Sources Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/universe Sources Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/multiverse Sources Err http://ppa.launchpad.net maverick/main i386 Packages 404 Not Found Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/main i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/restricted i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/universe i386 Packages Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com maverick-updates/multiverse i386 Packages Fetched 72B in 0s (196B/s) W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra/ppa/ubuntu/dists/maverick/main/source/Sources.gz 404 Not Found W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra/ppa/ubuntu/dists/maverick/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz 404 Not Found E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
scrapper@Library:~$ sudo apt-get install cinelerra
Reading package lists… Done Building dependency tree Reading state information… Done The following extra packages will be installed: libguicast1 libmpeg3cine libquicktimecine The following NEW packages will be installed cinelerra libguicast1 libmpeg3cine libquicktimecine 0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 14.3MB of archives. After this operation, 32.6MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra-ppa/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main libguicast1 i386 1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1 [300kB] Get:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra-ppa/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main libmpeg3cine i386 1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1 [2,544kB] Get:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra-ppa/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main libquicktimecine i386 1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1 [177kB] Get:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cinelerra-ppa/ppa/ubuntu/ maverick/main cinelerra i386 1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1 [11.3MB] Fetched 14.3MB in 14s (1,012kB/s) Selecting previously deselected package libguicast1. (Reading database … 151920 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libguicast1 (from …/libguicast1_1%3a2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1_i386.deb) … Selecting previously deselected package libmpeg3cine. Unpacking libmpeg3cine (from …/libmpeg3cine_1%3a2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1_i386.deb) … Selecting previously deselected package libquicktimecine. Unpacking libquicktimecine (from …/libquicktimecine_1%3a2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1_i386.deb) … Selecting previously deselected package cinelerra. Unpacking cinelerra (from …/cinelerra_1%3a2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1_i386.deb) … Processing triggers for man-db … Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils … Processing triggers for python-gmenu … Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_GB.utf8.cache… Processing triggers for python-support … Setting up libguicast1 (1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1) … Setting up libmpeg3cine (1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1) … Setting up libquicktimecine (1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1) … Setting up cinelerra (1:2.1.5-0.14~ppa1~maverick1) … cannot open locale definition file `en_GB.utf8′: No such file or directory update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/cinestart missing LSB information update-rc.d: see <http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts> Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/cinestart … /etc/rc0.d/K20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart /etc/rc1.d/K20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart /etc/rc6.d/K20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart /etc/rc2.d/S20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart /etc/rc3.d/S20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart /etc/rc4.d/S20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart /etc/rc5.d/S20cinestart -> ../init.d/cinestart Processing triggers for libc-bin … ldconfig deferred processing now taking place scrapper@Library:~$