Howto add PPA in debian

I am back with some more scripting fun.

I have been working on configuring my new debian machine and found one utility very lacking in debian and that was add-apt-repository.
So i set down and took my time out and finally i am able to mix match this simple script.

Disclaimer: I know adding ppa can have adverse effects on debian machines

At this point the work that this script performs is

  1. add the repository of the ppa. (here i am using lucid as the distribution of choice, coz i am using squeeze as my debian version)
  2. add the gpg key to the keyring.

Disclaimer

  • This script is at this pointed tested only on one machine. debian Squeeze (mint Flavoured.)

File : add-apt-repository.sh

Steps to install this.

  1. Download file

$ wget https://blog.anantshri.info/content/uploads/2010/09/add-apt-repository.sh.txt

2.ย  Save this file in /usr/sbin/

$ cp add-apt-repository.sh.txt /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

3.ย  Change permissions to execute

$ chmod o+x /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

4.ย  Change ownership to root

$chown root:root /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

5.ย  Now when ever you need to execute command type

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ppa-name

Opening this script to larger audience so that we can crowdsource efforts if someone likes it.

hope this can help someone

File : add-apt-repository.sh

Change Log

7 – Jan – 2011 : Updated the tutorial to place the file @ /usr/sbin as suggested at various during comments.

6 – Aug – 2011 : Updated the script to deal with the security hole (although not easily exploitable) as suggested by 7eggert at comment no 23

10 Sep – 2011 : bin corrected to sbin in step 3 and 4..ย  : thanks to Craig for pointing that out

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75 thoughts on “Howto add PPA in debian”

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  5. Miguel K3b

    Muchas gracias. Habรญa intentado instalado el paquete “python-software-properties” de Maverick, no el de Squeeze. Es donde estรก el comando “apt-add-repository”, pero no funciona.
    Una sugerencia: El script estarรญa mejor situado en /usr/sbin y he cambiado Lucid por Maverick.

    Gracias otra vez.

    Thank you very much. I had tried installing the package “python-software-properties” from Maverick, not the Squeeze package. Is where the command “apt-add-repository”, but does not work.
    One suggestion: The script would be better placed in /usr/sbin and changed Lucid for Maverick.

    Thanks again.

    Reply
    1. anantshri

      @miguel at this point i am working on 10.04 i.e. lucid so i made this with same in mind.

      I might add an optional parameter that could be used to specify distribution code name.

      Thanks for the praise.

      Reply

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  13. Melroy van den Berg

    It should be:
    sudo chmod o+x /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

    (sbin)

    and:
    sudo chown root:root /usr/sbin/add-apt-repository

    Reply
  16. Robert

    from my playing around with add-apt-repository I made a few changes so your script will do the same. add-apt-repository adds both deb & deb-src in sources.list.d for the ppa, and also adds deb & deb-src lines in sources.list for other repositories. I also changed so it automatically handles ubuntu versions – need a way to establish non-ubuntu version equivilancies.

    #!/bin/bash

    add_key ()
    {
    apt-get update >> /dev/null 2> /tmp/apt_add_key.txt
    key=`cat /tmp/apt_add_key.txt | cut -d”:” -f6 | cut -d” ” -f3`
    apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys $key
    rm -rf /tmp/apt_add_key.txt
    }

    cmd_line=”sudo $0 ppa:/”
    # needs to be run with sudo
    ROOT_UID=0
    if [[ “$UID” -ne “$ROOT_UID” ]];
    then
    echo “Please run the script with sudo (eg: $cmd_line)”
    exit
    fi

    if [[ $# -eq 1 ]]
    then
    ppa_name=${1:4}
    LINUX_DISTRIBUTION=`lsb_release -is`
    LINUX_CODENAME=`lsb_release -cs`
    case $LINUX_DISTRIBUTION in
    “debian” ) case $LINUX_CODENAME in
    squeeze ) LINUX_CODENAME=”lucid”;;
    * ) echo “not set up for this version yet”
    exit;;
    esac
    * ) echo “not set up for this distro yet”
    exit;;
    esac
    case “${1:0:4}” in
    “deb ” ) echo “deb $ppa_name”
    if [[ -f “/etc/apt/sources.list.save” ]]
    then
    rm -f “/etc/apt/sources.list.save”
    fi
    cp “/etc/apt/sources.list” “/etc/apt/sources.list.save”
    echo “deb $ppa_name” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
    echo “deb-src $ppa_name” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
    add_key;;
    “ppa:” ) echo “$ppa_name”
    ppa_list=”$ppa_name`lsb_release -cs`.list”
    if [[ -f “$ppa_list” ]]
    then
    if [[ -f “$ppa_list.save” ]]
    then
    rm -f “$ppa_list.save”
    fi
    mv “$ppa_list” “$ppa_list.save”
    fi
    echo “deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/$ppa_name/ubuntu $LINUX_CODENAME main” >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/”$ppa_list”
    echo “deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/$ppa_name/ubuntu $LINUX_CODENAME main” >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/”$ppa_list”
    add_key;;
    * ) echo “PPA name not found”
    echo “Utility to add PPA repositories in your debian machine”
    echo “$cmd_line”;;
    esac
    else
    echo “Utility to add PPA repositories in your debian machine”
    echo “$cmd_line”
    fi

    Reply

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  20. 7eggert

    Security flaw: This script will use a fixed name in /tmp, so it may be abused to overwrite any file in the system. Use mktemp.

    Reply
    1. anantshri

      nice find.

      updated the script to create file using a random string. randomization seed taken from machine details uname -a and date which should i think be sufficient for randomization in this case.

      Reply
    1. anantshri

      I have sent a mail to you please check and respond back so that we can sort the error out. will post if any update or changes need to be done.

      Reply
  24. Craig

    I had to change the third step to read “/usr/sbin/” rather than “/usr/bin” before this worked for me.

    Reply

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  33. Ben

    Very helpful!!! I’m still Linux newbie with Unix background too many years ago. Started with Ubuntu and working my way up to the mother ship ๐Ÿ˜‰ One thing that confuses me about your great script is comments that say makes too easy to install Ubuntu packages on Debian, which, to paraphrase some posts “would be very very bad, as it will destroy your computer, angry the gods & will join the hordes of Foolish People languishing in Linux Hell.” So, it would seem that those installing Wine from Ubuntu Repositories deserve our sympathies.

    Reply
  34. Ely

    I got this error when I ran “sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-beta” and moved to script to bin instead of sbin and it worked.

    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File “/usr/bin/add-apt-repository”, line 65, in
    if not sp.add_source_from_line(line):
    File “/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/softwareproperties/SoftwareProperties.py”, line 630, in add_source_from_line
    (deb_line, file) = expand_ppa_line(line.strip(), self.distro.codename)
    File “/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/softwareproperties/ppa.py”, line 47, in expand_ppa_line
    sourceslistd = apt_pkg.Config.find_dir(“Dir::Etc::sourceparts”)
    AttributeError: ‘module’ object has no attribute ‘Config’

    Reply

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  36. Christopher

    Con este script puede elegir de que distribuciรณn de Ubuntu quieres el repositorio

    #!/bin/bash
    if [ $# -eq 1 ]
    NM=`uname -a && date`
    NAME=`echo $NM | md5sum | cut -f1 -d” “`
    then
    PPA_NAME=`echo “$1″ | cut -d”:” -f2 -s`
    if [ -z “$PPA_NAME” ]
    then
    echo “Nombre del PPA no encontrado”
    echo “Utilidad para agregar ppa a tu Debian”
    echo “$0 ppa:user/ppa-name”
    else
    echo “Seleccione la versiรณn de ubuntu que quieres:”
    select UBUNTU_VERSION in lucid maverick natty oneiric precise
    do
    case $UBUNTU_VERSION in
    “lucid”)
    break
    ;;
    “maverick”)
    break
    ;;
    “natty”)
    break
    ;;
    “oneiric”)
    break
    ;;
    “precise”)
    break
    ;;
    *)
    echo “Elija una versiรณn correcta”
    ;;
    esac
    done
    echo “Eligiรณ $UBUNTU_VERSION”
    echo “Se esta agregando el ppa de $PPA_NAME”
    echo “” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
    echo “# $PPA_NAME” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
    echo “deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/$PPA_NAME/ubuntu $UBUNTU_VERSION main” >> /etc/apt/sources.list
    apt-get update >> /dev/null 2> /tmp/${NAME}_apt_add_key.txt
    key=`cat /tmp/${NAME}_apt_add_key.txt | cut -d”:” -f6 | cut -d” ” -f3`
    apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys $key
    rm -rf /tmp/${NAME}_apt_add_key.txt
    fi
    else
    echo “Utilidad para agregar ppa a tu Debian”
    echo “$0 ppa:user/ppa-name”
    fi

    Reply
  37. Nicholas

    I found that this worked flawlessly when I right-clicked and downloaded the file instead of using wget. I also had no luck in updating the script to use oneric instead of lucid. it works great, though! well done!

    Reply
  39. Sander

    Thank you for sharing this steps. I’ve been figuring out how to install PPA to a debian for the longest time. I tried the steps you suggested and it worked for me. Your article is very helpful.

    Reply

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  46. centime

    Hi, nice job your script
    i’m currently trying a debian, but due to driver issues i need a ppa. Your script seems to be the trick and indeed allowed me to add the ppa, but when i try to update the way i would with ubuntu, i got this :

    root@centime-crunchbang:/home/centime/downloads# apt-get update | grep cedar
    Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/sarvatt/cedarview/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-en
    Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net/sarvatt/cedarview/ubuntu/ lucid/main Translation-fr
    W: Impossible de rรฉcupรฉrer http://ppa.launchpad.net/sarvatt/cedarview/ubuntu/dists/lucid/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz 404 Not Found

    any idea of what i sould do to make it work ?

    thanks a lot !

    Reply
    1. anantshri

      my script was based on previous LTS release now your repository which you added don’t have any package for lucid.

      you can do one simple thing edit /etc/apt/sources.lst and modify the line which says this and find lucid repalce to precise that should solve your problem.

      Reply

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  48. sswam

    Thank-you for the very useful script.
    I made some changes and have some critique, hope you don’t mind!

    Your “security fix” for temp files does not work.
    Mallory can run your code with `date -d ‘100 seconds’`, etc.
    It is not a good idea to ‘roll your own security’.

    You could do what the guy said, use mktemp:
    tmpfile=`mktemp /tmp/apt_add_key.XXXXXXXXXX.txt`
    echo $tmpfile
    /tmp/apt_add_key.NKBIape16r.txt

    You don’t actually need that file:
    key=`apt-get update 2>&1 >/dev/null | cut -d”:” -f6 | cut -d” ” -f3`

    This might be a better way to list unknown key/s:
    apt-get update 2>&1 >/dev/null | sed -n ‘/NO_PUBKEY/s/.* //p’

    But there is another security problem.

    You are installing keys automatically based on error messages and unsecured channels, this undermines the security that these keys are supposed to provide. It’s vulnerable to a ‘man in the middle’ attack.

    Instead, we can look up the keys on https://launchpad.net/, which is fairly safe.

    I posted a modified and over-engineered^Whacked version of your script.
    sswam.net/b/apt-ppa-debian

    My script got a bit too long, probably shouldn’t do this sort of thing in bash!
    probably has it’s own host of bugs and security faults….!

    Have fun.

    Reply

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    1. anantshri

      Thanks for the tip, will check. this code at this point is a very old release there are couple of other things also that need to be secured, plus as and when i get time i will shift the code to github so that anyone can modify and suggest changes directly.

      Reply
  58. Bert

    Hi,

    you should’nt add the sources to /etc/apt/sources.list

    instead, create a file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.list

    It’s not a good approach to write custom sources directly into the /etc/apt/sources.list in general as this file might be managed through services (i.e. puppet)

    regards,
    bert

    Reply
    1. anantshri

      Hi Bert,

      I agree with you. But right now in middle of a hectic week. hopefully next week i will update the script.

      Reply
  60. Tony Wall

    Thanks this helped me get some packages I needed installed on my hosted Debian 6.0 minimal install server.

    Reply

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