Software and Package Management

There are many different ways to install software on Linux.

The Package Manager

Unlike Windows, most software for Ultramarine Linux is stored in online collections of software called repositories. You can browse and install software (packages) from these repositories using something called a package manager.

Flatpaks

Flatpak is the primary package manager for regular apps. It installs applications in a sandbox, keeping them separate from anything they donโ€™t need to access.

Flatpaks can be installed from Software on Budgie and GNOME, AppCenter on Pantheon, and Discover on KDE.

You can browse the available software in one of these app stores, or on the Flathub website.

Despite most applications being installed from Flatpak, some apps may not work properly, or may not be available at all. The following sections will help with software in other formats.

Software Downloaded from the Internet

Sometimes, the software you need may come as a package file downloaded from the internet.

RPM Packages

To install RPMs on Flagship, GNOME, or KDE, simply double-click it.

To install an RPM on Pantheon, open a Terminal and run

sudo dnf localinstall /path/to/package.rpm

(Replacing /path/to/package.rpm with the real path, itโ€™s usually ~/Downloads/package.rpm)

AppImages

  1. Install AppImage Launcher from Software or Discover. On Pantheon Edition, run
sudo dnf install appimagelauncher
  1. Double-click the file and youโ€™re done!

We recommend avoiding AppImages as they are not automatically updated and may have compatibility issues.

Snap

Snap is a package manager made by Canonical for Ubuntu. It contains a large amount of proprietary applications that you may not be able to find elsewhere.

Snap may cause your system to run noticeably slower.

To get started, install Snap.

sudo dnf install snapd

Then, verify snap is working

sudo snap install helloworld
helloworld

Snap packages load slowly and may not work at all on editions other than GNOME. We recommend avoiding Snaps.

DNF

Ultramarine Linux uses the DNF package manager. While this package manager primarily handles system software (like the kernel, and your desktop environment) it can install user apps as well.

sudo dnf install steam # Install Steam

You can also install groups of packages, like full desktop environments or a suite of tools for music production, using the dnf groupinstall command.

sudo dnf groupinstall "Audio Production" # installs multiple packages at once, in this case a suite of music/audio production tools

For a full list of available groups, run sudo dnf group list

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