Testing on a revamped app store that will replace Ubuntu Software Center in 16.04 LTS is now underway — and you can take part!
Last November I shared news that Ubuntu was planning to drop the existing Ubuntu Software Center from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and replace it with a fork of GNOME Software.
Yet, if you took the Xenial Xerus for a pre-emptive spin since, you’d be forgiven for thinking Canonical had changed their minds on the deal.
Not only is the “old” Ubuntu Software Center still installed by default, but its upstream replacement isn’t available to install from the Xenial archives either.
That changes today.
Migration to and testing of new GNOME Software and its package-kit backend has begun.
Help Test GNOME Software in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
If you’re a bug-hungry beta tester or kist plain ol’ nosey so-and-so curious for what’s coming, you can help test the Ubuntu software Center replacement on your own machine.
There are some conditions, of course.
You must be using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and you must be willing to add a PPA that contains potentially buggy and incomplete software.
If that sounds like fun…
Testing PPA for Xenial Users
To get going, first add the GNOME Software PPA to your list of Software Sources. Then, install the required packages. After which, the creaky old Ubuntu Software Center is kicked in to the proverbial long grass by its leaner, cleaner upstream replacement.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-desktop/gnome-software
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gnome-software packagekit
The testing PPA provides a patched version of GNOME Software (able to pull in app reviews from the Ubuntu servers) and contained PackageKit 1.0.
(Once installed may need/want to run this script as root. This will fetch, populate and update the appstream data in the app. But please note: depending on when you read this article this step may not be necessary.)
This is all a work in progress
You should expect missing features, application crashes and random bugs while helping to test this. For instance, you can’t leave reviews via the app using Ubuntu One yet.
Any kernel-crunching, hair-pulling and frustration-inducing errors you meet should be filed against the gnome-software package on Launchpad.