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DRAFT: this page is a work in progress. Please seek further help or check the wiki index for a complete page on this topic.

Overview

Ever individual and team registered in Launchpad gets their own apt repository. They're called Personal Package Archives; you'll probably see that shortened to PPA in most places.

Your PPA is an efficient and convenient way to distribute software to Ubuntu users. All you have to do is upload a source package and Launchpad will:

• build binaries for x86, AMD64 and lpia architectures
• host the binaries in your own apt repository
• push updates to your users when you build new binaries.

Installing and uninstalling software from a PPA is just as easy for Ubuntu users as installing software from their operating system's primary archives. This makes it an ideal way to distribute beta versions, daily builds and other versions of your software for testing, without having to ask your testers to compile your software from source.

Personal and team PPAs work exactly the same, except that in the case of team PPAs then entire team has permission to upload to the archive.

Installing software from a PPA

PPAs work just like normal Ubuntu archives. You can install software in the usual way - for example, through apt-get or synaptic - and whenever there's an update Ubuntu will prompt you to install it.

Important: when you install software from a PPA, Ubuntu will warn you that it is unsigned. For more on why packages in PPAs aren't signed, see the PPA FAQs.

Adding a PPA to your Ubuntu repositories

To install packages from a PPA, you need to tell Ubuntu where to find it. You do this by giving Ubuntu the PPA's URL, which you can find on the PPA's Launchpad page.

Let's take a look at the AWN Testing team's PPA as an example. If you're using the most recent development version of Ubuntu, all you need do is copy these lines in the apt sources.list entries section of the page. For example:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu intrepid main

If, like most people, you're using another version of Ubuntu - such as the most recent stable version - then you need to select it from the drop-down box. That'll automatically update the URLs you need to copy.

Take a look at the Ubuntu guide to adding extra software repositories to find out how to add those URLs to your local Ubuntu system.

Building your source package

Before you start using your PPA to distribute software, you need to be familiar with building .deb source packages.

• and host them in your own apt repository. When upload an updated version of your package, your users' operating systems will prompt them to upgrade.

handles the rest, including:

• building binaries for x86, AMD64 and lpia

Using your Personal Package Archive (PPA), you can build and distribute software packages for use in Ubuntu and Debian.

• build packages for x86, AMD64 and lpia architectures
• automatically push updates to users

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