Open In App

How to Add or Remove PPA in Ubuntu Using GUI and Terminal

Improve
Improve
Like Article
Like
Save
Share
Report

The Ubuntu programs are available to meet the needs of Ubuntu users. Many of these programs are stored in software archives commonly referred to as repositories. Repositories make it easy to install new software, while also providing a high level of security since the software is thoroughly tested and built specifically for each version of Ubuntu. Personal Package Archives (PPA) is a unique software repository intended for non-standard software/updates. It helps us to share out software and updates directly to Ubuntu users. PPA allows us to upload Ubuntu source packages to be built and published as an apt repository by Launchpad.

PPA’s are the only way to get your software updated in Ubuntu between two distro releases. In other words, if a new version of your favorite software comes out then you may not have to wait until the next version of the Ubuntu LTS comes out because the latest versions are not available in the repository so here we can use PPA to install the latest version of any software from the repository in Ubuntu All we need to do is to create our own source package, upload it and the Launchpad will build binaries and then host them in our own apt repository. This makes it easy for Ubuntu users to install packages in the same way they install standard Ubuntu packages, and one of the advantages is that they will automatically get updated once we make them available.

Adding PPA in Ubuntu(22.04LTS) via GUI 

In Ubuntu, click on Unity Dash and search for “Software & Updates”  as shown in the below figure.

Dash interface

 

In the “Software & Updates” interface below, head over to the “Other Software” tab and click on the “Add” button to add a new PPA.

Adding PPA URL

 

In this example for demonstration, we are using the PPA of a screenshot tool named Shutter. To know the PPA for the latest version of any software we go to the website launchpad.net and type the software name we need in the search dialogue box for example shutter screenshot. Launchpad is a software collaboration platform for building and hosting ubuntu packages. 

PPA of Shutter:

deb https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/shutter/ppa/ubuntu hirsute main 

Once the new PPA URL is added, click on Add Source button to add it as the source. An authentication dialogue box will appear and we enter the password to confirm the changes.

Authenticate to make changes

 

Removing PPA in Ubuntu(22.04LTS) via GUI

It is very easy to remove a PPA we just have to select the PPA from the list as shown in the picture below, then click on the Remove button to remove it.

Remove PPA in Ubuntu

 

Adding PPA in Ubuntu(22.04LTS) via Terminal

To add a PPA from the terminal, we use the syntax as shown below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:shutter/ppa

 Here we are adding the PPA of a screenshot tool named Shutter. The command above will create a file under /etc/apt/sources.list.d.

Adding PPA from Terminal

 

Removing PPA in Ubuntu(22.04LTS) via Terminal

To remove the PPA using terminal, we use the syntax as shown below:

sudo add-apt-repository –remove ppa:shutter/ppa

This command is similar to adding a PPA. We use –remove option in the command following the exact name of the PPA. It will delete the PPA from the system.

Removing PPA from Terminal

 

Removing PPA using ppa-purge via terminal

The above two methods for removing PPA will only delete the PPA from the system but the packages installed from it will remain on the system, but we will not receive any updates from the PPA. Here is when PPA Purge comes into the picture. It is a command-line tool that disables a PPA repository from your software sources list. Apart from that, it reverts the system back to official Ubuntu packages provided by your distribution. In other words, it deletes a PPA and downgrades all the packages installed from it to the original version provided by your distribution.

To install ppa-purge, run the following command below:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

Installing ppa-purge

 

Once it gets installed, we can remove a PPA using the following commands:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:shutter/ppa
Removing PPA using ppa-purge

 


Last Updated : 02 Jun, 2022
Like Article
Save Article
Previous
Next
Share your thoughts in the comments
Similar Reads