In case you did not know, we were pretty disappointed with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS for some of its shortcomings, like the lack of the ability to install .deb files using the App Center.
And, we had a strong opinion about it (like every user should):
Do not get me wrong: we also reviewed Ubuntu 24.04 LTS as a near-perfect upgrade. So, we did not hate it entirely, but were furious about this particular decision:
While that garnered a lot of support and criticism, it looks like Canonical listened to us and many others who agreed with our thoughts.
Install .Deb Packages Using the App Center 🥳
Of course, it was not just our voice about it, but one of the users raised the issue on GitHub requesting the functionality before Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release.
It was being discussed upon, but did not make it to the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release. Recently, it was merged to the App Center and is finally available to everyone!
Ubuntu (or Canonical) did not make an official announcement for it. But, it is here, if you have an updated Ubuntu 24.04 LTS system:
You can finally install .deb files that you download over the internet using the App Center, without needing to head to the terminal or installing a third-party GUI tool for the functionality.
Just head to the .deb file you downloaded, right-click on it to find "Open with App Center" which will open up a window like the one above and let you proceed with it. Here's how it looks:
0:00
/0:10
Of course, it provides a necessary warning that it is a third-party package. You need to trust the source of the package before the installing anything (like a project's GitHub release section).
You are no longer forced to prefer Snaps from the App Center, and can choose to install software as per your requirements.
💡
Many projects still maintain and provide .deb packages. So, in such cases, you can assume that it is safe to install. You should be cautious if you cannot verify the source of the package or when opting for an older package for some reason.
There is still a missing feature, though: you cannot manage the deb packages using the App Center, whether you downloaded it externally or installed within the app center.
I know, we, humans, are never satisfied 😉 But, it is what it is!
💭 What do you think about this small refinement to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS for the App Center? Let me know your thoughts!
🎗️
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People can criticize Canonical (and also Red Hat) a bit much sometimes, I get it, but I believe in this case it’s somewhat valid.
It is all mostly about beginner friendliness. A situation with GDebi being not installed by default and App Center failing by just freezing forever is not beautiful to say it mildly.
And security risks being given by engineers as actual argument to not encourage people to install Deb files manually should in fact be an even more important reason to make software respond properly to the (beginner) user and inform them about the problem.
I would like to add more to this:
It’s really not the first time that Ubuntu has failed in it’s clearness with being informative. There has been a much larger drama in the previous LTS version, especially involving Ubuntu Server too.
I have recently been searching for the reason behind ‘held back’ packages and why that happens so often. Turns out to be that your system is not broken, but many people thought that and have been loosing lots of time in looking for solutions, also including reïnstalling everything and people often even migrated to other distributions because of it.
It turns out to be so called phased upgrades, which by itself is a great thing with the intention to not immediately roll out new stuff to all users around the world, but to do this gradually considering the possible case of problems.
However, the problem was that APT did not explain this at all when updating, causing major confusion. This has been solved now by improving the message, but that fix still had to wait to the next LTS.
I’ve actually been avoiding manual install of debs and have been using nothing but snaps and flatpaks. I really like how easy snaps and flatpaks stay updated and I no longer need to worry about manually updating a deb or using ppas which I hate since they have given me issues in past.
Snap and flat pack is the sure way to ake the system unusable and scare off users. Deb has been the package system of choice for milions and has worked perfectly for decades. There really isn’t any reason to go away from it
snap and flatpak means having the latest version of software on many distros and not having to use a outdated versions since many distros basically freeze many updates till os is updated and only backport serious security issues to older versions of os it also means you do not have to mess with ppas which can have issues and also means no longer having to mess with manually updating a deb you installed manually even a cheap intel n100 with a cheap nvme can run snaps and flatpaks with out any issues at lightning fast speeds. It also means when its time to update the os to its next version that flatpaks or snaps that are installed are already compatible with the next version of os unlike other options which can have issues.
That’s lucky. dpkg doesn’t handle dependencies of deb packages. apt and apt-get do. But apt will show a warning while installing deb file (about insecure installation) which could confuse some people.
What I concluded here on a standard Ubuntu desktop system by I doing some good searches with both the snap search and apt search commands, as well as checking the process behind the App Center, is that it’s litterally called snap-store and it’s also installed as a Snap by itself. I didn’t notice a Flatpak option and I also don’t seem to find a dependency for it. Maybe I need to search longer.
However (just by searching in the App Center), you can also just install the actual GNOME Software or KDE Discover, which both also support their own Flatpak backend
Both the GNOME and KDE app basically support 3 standard things on any Linux distro: fwupd (for firmware), Flatpak and Snap. You may need to install these aditionally. Then the 4th thing is the native backend of the distribution, e.g. deb or rpm.
To be fair I see not too much reason why Ubuntu needs yet another application anyway.
They’re still trying to scaremonge against debs, using emotionally charged non-standard language like ‘can increase the risk to your system’, ‘this package may threaten your system’ instead of the typical ‘may be unsafe’.
Same nonsense OS makers are trying to force use of their stores in place of repositories with mirrors and installers - youre “sideloading”, as if installing packages is a forbidden activity you should feel bad about
Honestly the app center is kind of garbage. Super slow super buggy. I switched to installing debs on the command line a long time ago, it's faster and more reliable. Sudo apt install *.deb…..done.
Now you briefly mention snaps, here's where I would like to see Ubuntu reverse course. I have not used a snap yet that worked right or opened quickly... And I doubt I ever will. I have zero interest in using snaps, I've even gone so far as to uninstall snapd. I also give more and more thought to switching distributions to one that doesn't force me to use snaps via the apt command. Snaps should only be installed with the snap command, so users can avoid it if they want to. Ubuntu reminds me a lot of Microsoft in this regard. One thing Linux doesn't need is dark patterns and corporate bullshit.
This is GNOME-specific. KDE on Ubuntu 23.10 allows you to use discover to install packages, which is also the graphical ‘store’ or ‘update manager’ application.
Ubuntu is a dead man walking because of the snap crap they force upon users. And with 24.10 and CUPS being released as snap only, Ubuntu will be finally dead. Time to go back to Debian.
I am pleased that Canonical opted to listen to user complaints, however for some it may be too little too late. Personally I dislike that every new release of Ubuntu increases reliance of snaps for core functionality, releasing 24.04 with no initial .deb support was a deal-breaker for me. Debian 12 looks like my path forward.
latest linux mint had to downgrade software packages just to make them work on latest version and who wants a bloated os that thinks they know whats best for everyone. minimal os installers are way better. start menus are old fashion and unneeded also.
Abhishek
It is all mostly about beginner friendliness.
A situation with GDebi being not installed by default and App Center failing by just freezing forever is not beautiful to say it mildly.
And security risks being given by engineers as actual argument to not encourage people to install Deb files manually should in fact be an even more important reason to make software respond properly to the (beginner) user and inform them about the problem.
I would like to add more to this:
It’s really not the first time that Ubuntu has failed in it’s clearness with being informative.
There has been a much larger drama in the previous LTS version, especially involving Ubuntu Server too.
I have recently been searching for the reason behind ‘held back’ packages and why that happens so often.
Turns out to be that your system is not broken, but many people thought that and have been loosing lots of time in looking for solutions, also including reïnstalling everything and people often even migrated to other distributions because of it.
It turns out to be so called phased upgrades, which by itself is a great thing with the intention to not immediately roll out new stuff to all users around the world, but to do this gradually considering the possible case of problems.
However, the problem was that APT did not explain this at all when updating, causing major confusion.
This has been solved now by improving the message, but that fix still had to wait to the next LTS.
I am well-versed in the command line as that’s where you can do anything
Deb has been the package system of choice for milions and has worked perfectly for decades. There really isn’t any reason to go away from it
I’m using Ubuntu for more than 10 years, and I never had a problem of installing package with dpkg -i and end up with missing dependencies.
However (just by searching in the App Center), you can also just install the actual GNOME Software or KDE Discover, which both also support their own Flatpak backend
Both the GNOME and KDE app basically support 3 standard things on any Linux distro: fwupd (for firmware), Flatpak and Snap. You may need to install these aditionally.
Then the 4th thing is the native backend of the distribution, e.g. deb or rpm.
To be fair I see not too much reason why Ubuntu needs yet another application anyway.
Same nonsense OS makers are trying to force use of their stores in place of repositories with mirrors and installers - youre “sideloading”, as if installing packages is a forbidden activity you should feel bad about
Now you briefly mention snaps, here's where I would like to see Ubuntu reverse course. I have not used a snap yet that worked right or opened quickly... And I doubt I ever will. I have zero interest in using snaps, I've even gone so far as to uninstall snapd. I also give more and more thought to switching distributions to one that doesn't force me to use snaps via the apt command. Snaps should only be installed with the snap command, so users can avoid it if they want to. Ubuntu reminds me a lot of Microsoft in this regard. One thing Linux doesn't need is dark patterns and corporate bullshit.