GetDeb

GetDeb
Type of site
 Ubuntu Software Portal
Available in English
Owner João Pinto
Created by João Pinto
Website www.getdeb.net www.playdeb.net
Commercial no
Registration No

GetDeb was an Ubuntu software portal providing newer versions of software included in Ubuntu, and software that is omitted from the official repositories.[1] PlayDeb is a sister project with an explicit focus on games. The names come from the .deb package format used by Ubuntu. GetDeb and PlayDeb services can also be used by Ubuntu derivatives.

Purpose

Standard Ubuntu releases receive support for nine months[2] and LTS releases for five years.[3][4][5] During this support lifetime, they will receive official security fixes, high-impact bug fixes and conservative, substantially beneficial low-risk bug fixes[6] - but no completely new versions of applications.

GetDeb allows its users to receive more up-to-date versions of popular software without upgrading their whole OS or installing from source code.

Pros and cons

GetDeb and PlayDeb serve two primary purposes. They allow Ubuntu users to install software that is not yet included in the main repositories, and offer current versions of many packages that are included in the Ubuntu repositories. The latter is of utility because, due to the release cycle adopted by Ubuntu, most packages will be several months out of date at the time of release, and will not receive feature updates until the next discrete release for stability reasons.

It is generally advisable to subscribe only to Ubuntu's own package repositories where possible, as software offered by GetDeb and PlayDeb has not been extensively tested with the current Ubuntu release and may suffer stability issues. However, in many cases newer versions of software are only omitted from a specific Ubuntu release due to releases typically being static except for security updates. In some cases, software packaged by GetDeb and PlayDeb may be beta or alpha releases - and may also not conform to the Debian or Ubuntu packaging guidelines.

Alternatives

GetDeb and PlayDeb overlap somewhat in purpose with:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Purdy, Kevin (November 9, 2009). "GetDeb.net Repository Makes Newer Ubuntu Apps Easily Available". Lifehacker.
  2. ↑ Sneddon, Joey-Elijah (20 March 2013). "Ubuntu To Halve Support Window for 'Regular' Releases". OMG! Ubuntu!. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Ubuntu 12.04 to feature extended support period for desktop users". Canonical.com. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Paul, Ryan (28 May 2012). "Precision and purpose: Ubuntu 12.04 and the Unity HUD reviewed". Ars Technica. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "TimeBasedReleases". Ubuntu Wiki. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Time Based Releases". Ubuntu Wiki. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Need More, Or Updated, Software? Try These 7 Ubuntu PPAs"
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