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From my understanding, apt is a high level interface for the Debian package manager (correct/educate me with anything if I am wrong). It is a tool for me to avoid going to random sites to download my stuff. Instead it allows for a more organized way to install software.

So my question is this. Since I have a tool like apt, what if I install everything? I plan on downloading things like node and other stuff. Should I always check if it is in the Debian package repositories before downloading from online? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?

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frownyface
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3 Answers3

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apt will use whatever repositories you have added to collect packages. If you limit this to Canonical ones, everything you get has been tested and in the majority of situations and setups, works well.

They will, for the most part, not be the bleeding edge that your software packages of choice have to offer.

They will be as stable and as secure as the people who curate those repositories can manage and will have as few compatibility and dependencies issues as humanly possible.

You can add numerous 3rd party repositories to apt. Doing so will update apt's view of available packages and versions but can start to break dependencies.

If an installed package A is dependent on installed package B, but package C needs an older or new version of package B, you will get an error when trying to install package C. Forcing it may break package A as well.

You can usually rectify most broken packages using apt or dpkg, which apt is effectively a wrapper for.

If you start installing packages from non apt based sources, be that their source code or pre-compiled binaries, you are at the mercy of their requirements. If they have dependencies you don't meet, you will need to manually install them. Possibly via apt, possibly not. Blindly following installation instructions can install things into your system which can overwrite apt sourced packages, or parts of them, effectively breaking anything that requires that package to be at a certain version. Alternatively they can be installed to your user only, so other user accounts will struggle to make use of them.

Ultimately you can do whatever you want and are comfortable with.

You can always start over if you break it, so keep the USB drive somewhere safe.

SHawarden
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When you want to install software your first step should be to run apt search 'package-name' to find out if that software exists as a package in the default Ubuntu repositories of your operating system. An optional second step is to run rmadison 'package-name' to find out if that package is in the default repositories of a later Ubuntu release.

The advantages of apt over other ways of installing software are that Ubuntu supports every package in their repositories and all packages in the default Ubuntu repositories will be updated when updates become available. Using apt and snap preferentially to other methods also prevents most package management issues for occurring. An operating system that is free from package management issues can be updated more safely and easily than an operating system that has multiple package management issues caused by poor choices made by installing software from less trustworthy sources than the default Ubuntu repositories.

No other way of installing software is as secure as apt whether it is installing .deb files from a PPA, installing apps using other package managers, installing software using software installation scripts like katoolin or compiling software from source. Software from these alternative sources is frequently uploaded there by individuals, and is subject to much less review by developers than apt packages are.

karel
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Yes and no.

Yes (95% of cases)

Personally I use the following sequence to find software in the deb-repositories:

  1. Search for package in default (main, universe, multiverse, restricted) Ubuntu repositories

    • on local machine with apt search something (or apt-cache search something); or maybe with TUI interface of aptitude; with GUI programs as Synaptic or Muon.
    • online by visiting https://packages.ubuntu.com . Here one can search packages by name, description and contents. I use this way when I do not have apt-file installed on my system.

  2. Search for packages in third-party repositories

The software from the repositories will update with next sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade (if newer version exists). The trust level is the highest for official repositories and lowers for third-party.

No (5% of cases)

Only if you can not find the software in the official or third-party deb-repositories you have three other options:

  1. Find the package in the upstream - for Ubuntu it is Debian, so you can visit https://packages.debian.org to understand was it available for it or not.

  2. Find the software in alternative channels - such as Snap, FlatPak or AppImage. There are front-ends for them as GNOME Software and KDE Discover on the local computer.

  3. Find the package at Repology.org to estimate its spread and get possible compile recipe (for example from ArchLinux AUR PKGBUILD file or Gentoo ebuild file). And then compile it with dependencies on local machine as described in the next paragraph.

  4. Compile the application by yourself and create deb-package for it by using checkinstall - it is the most hard way. If the program is simple, you can compile it without checkinstall and place it in your home-folder on leave it in its source code directory. Here you need to install build tools, build-time dependencies and so on.

Stuff to read:

  1. Install & Remove Software at Ubuntu Documentation
  2. Package Management for server at Ubuntu Documentation.
  3. "How do I install applications in Ubuntu?" here
  4. man apt
  5. man apt-file
  6. man apt-cache
  7. man dpkg
  8. man checkinstall
N0rbert
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