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| Try the [PPAQuickStart: "Quick Start Guide for PPA's"] which is recommended reading if you want to learn more! | Try the [:PPAQuickStart:Quick Start Guide for PPA's] if you want to learn more! |
PPAs ("Personal Package Archive's") are one of the most popular and unique features of Launchpad. You can publish your own packages for Ubuntu - which can be modified versions of existing Ubuntu packages, or completely new packages that you have created of any free software project.
You can create a source package, verify that it builds on your own machine, then upload it to Launchpad, where it will be built for i386 and amd64 architectures, and published for the world to see. Then you can give the public archive URL for your PPA to friends, if they add it to their /etc/apt/sources.list file then they will be able to install your package instantly, and receive automatic updates when you upload an updated version.
As an example, here's a PPA where cool Compiz 3D desktop packages were developed early in the adoption of the technology by Ubuntu:
Ubuntu versions
You can build the package against any currently supported version of Ubuntu. At the time of writing, that included Ubuntu 6.06 ("dapper"), Ubuntu 6.10 ("edgy"), ubuntu 7.04 ("feisty") and Ubuntu 7.10 ("gutsy"). When you upload the package, you specify which version it is designed to be built for.
Team PPAs
A team can have their own PPA too. This allows a group of developers to collaborate on a set of packages. Anyone in the team can upload to the team PPA, so it is a convenient way for a group to work together on a whole bunch of packages which work together as a set.
For example, this is the Kubuntu team's PPA, where they did a lot of preliminary work on KDE packaging for hard-core experimental users:
Activating your PPA
On your home page, look for an option to "Activate Personal Package Archive". You will need to accept the terms of service, which basically say that you will only use the free PPA system for free software packages, and then you can start uploading immediately. You can watch the build farm, which turns those source packages into binaries, at work at https://launchpad.net/+builds
Try the [:PPAQuickStart:Quick Start Guide for PPA's] if you want to learn more!
