Trying to understand how to use Ubuntu software tools

[DGeeez]

Hello, I'm a recovering Windows user who's trying to learn how to add software to Ubuntu 8.l. I have read on this page https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu a description of how programs are managed in a Linux system. Like with most official help on this site, it leaves my questions unanswered, and I am unable to make use of the Ubuntu company forum, which is ridiculously busy and hasn't sent me my registration email for two days! Therefore, I'm desperately hoping that some here can help me, that the basic software tools aren't much different between Linux "flavors".

I'm also really confused on how programs are generally managed by Linux. I got the impression from the little I read today that software in the form of "source programs" (does this mean source code, and if not, then how are they different from executable programs) are stored in the repositories, waiting to be compiled - I hope this is incorrect, given that somebody mentioned that Synaptic doesn't compile! So then, I'd be more than grateful to anyone who could tell me, (in plain language), what to expect from the open-source repositories, whether I can rely on Synaptic (or anything else) to carry the ball through the installation of most useful Linux programs, and if not, then what do you have to actually do in order to get most programs installed after the CD gives you everything it thinks you'll ever want? Someone told me today that a complete newbie should'nt be diving into hand-compiling (I think that meant through the command line), but are there any alternatives through the Linux interface? What's the process that you should generally expect when installing a program, if it starts with Synaptic?

Thanks.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

The packages in the Ubuntu repositories and most other distribution repositories are binary packages, and ready to install. Synaptic makes installing them very simple. These packages can be installed from the command line if you wish using Apt, or Aptitude.

If you should want to compile your software from source as you go, consider going with a distribution such as Crux, or Gentoo. With them, each package is compiled directly on your machine right after it's downloaded.

Hope you will enjoy and have fun running Linux.

[hazel]

I got the impression from the little I read today that software in the form of "source programs" (does this mean source code, and if not, then how are they different from executable programs) are stored in the repositories, waiting to be compiled - I hope this is incorrect, given that somebody mentioned that Synaptic doesn't compile! So then, I'd be more than grateful to anyone who could tell me, (in plain language), what to expect from the open-source repositories, whether I can rely on Synaptic (or anything else) to carry the ball through the installation of most useful Linux programs, and if not, then what do you have to actually do in order to get most programs installed after the CD gives you everything it thinks you'll ever want? .

Yes, source means source code. This is one of the two ways in which you can download programs; the other is pre-compiled binary packages. Unlike in Windows, binary packages do not come with their own installation scripts. Instead the package manager in your distribution installs them. So they have to be in a format which your package manager understands: for Debian-based distros like Ubuntu, that means debs, for Fedora or Mandriva, it means rpms. All modern distros also contain an intelligent update manager like apt/synaptic which finds and downloads packages from a repository and then uses the package manager to install them.

Some distros also have repositories for source code but usually you download that from the project's own website. Then you have to compile it yourself; this is not difficult using Linux's automated compilation tools (you'll find them in the build-essential package which can be installed from your installation disk). Generally you go down this road when you want to install something that your distro doesn't directly support, such as specialist hardware drivers.

[DGeeez]

Thanks for your helpful replies!

It's such a novel idea to not be surfing the web for software, seeking out the ratings systems in choosing what to take a chance on, that I was stunned not to see many web postings (other than by command-line users) on specific linux programs. No wonder I wasn't sure what I was getting into with Synaptic, but it works great (I actually had to make some changes with the Sources tool and select ALL in Synaptic before I found similar tools to what I'm used to using in Microsoft World).

[graphicks]

In Ubuntu (I'm using 8.10.) you can click on the menu at the top left of the screen (default location on the left of the top panel). Then enter the menu, selecting "Add/Remove". Follow the instructions (Check marks beside what you want, & no checks beside what you don't.) Everything you have now, will have check marks already. Dependencies are automatically downloaded and installed as well (dependencies install first.). This requires nothing from the command line, however you will be prompted for your sudo password.

This allows complete n00bs like me to install packages and make my computer super useful while I learn the command line (but before I actually have).

Good luck,
Greg