Chapter 6. Installing and Removing Software

Linux Mint ships with just about everything the average person needs in order to be productive right away. By default, Mint includes a complete office suite, applications to listen to music files and watch movies, a web browser, the ability to burn CD/DVD media, and much more. But even though Mint is one of the most complete distributions around, the software it includes is by no means all there is available. Mint benefits from the Ubuntu package repositories, which feature tens of thousands of packages to install. Managing software on your local machine is the next step in mastering Linux Mint. In this chapter, we'll explore the multitude of ways to obtain new software in Mint, as well as how to manage currently installed applications.

In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:

• Managing packages in Linux Mint

• Using the Mint Software Manager

• Installing new applications

• Removing applications

• Using the Synaptic Package Manager

• Configuring software...

Managing packages in Linux Mint

A concept known as package management separates the method by which software is distributed in Linux versus other platforms. If you've used other environments such as Windows or Mac OS X, you may have become very familiar with their methods of installing new programs. With Windows, you typically download an executable installer (for example, .exe or .msi) and navigate through an installation routine known as a wizard. On Mac OS X, you can download installation images (.dmg or .iso files) and install them into your Applications folder. Linux, on the other hand, uses packages that are downloaded from repositories.

What may be confusing to new users is the fact that not only is the method of obtaining new software very different in the Linux world, but also, each distribution has its own way of handling packages. In fact, a distribution's method of package management is one of the biggest differences that sets each of the distributions apart from one another....

Using the Mint Software Manager

As mentioned earlier, there are GUI package management tools available in various distributions. Not all distributions ship with GUI tools to manage installed software, but all of the distributions aimed toward entry-level to intermediate users do. In Debian-based distributions, Synaptic is a very popular GUI tool (and is also available for use in Mint) and there are also other distribution-specific tools, such as the Ubuntu Software Center. Mint takes it one step further and includes its own GUI application for package management that is very easy to use; the Mint Software Manager is that tool, and it makes package management a breeze. The Mint Software Manager is available in your Applications menu. Go ahead and launch it. The following screenshot shows the main window of Mint's Software Manager:

Before you dive into the Software Manager, first you will be prompted for your password. The password that you'll enter is the same as the one you used when you...

Installing new applications

Using Mint's Software Manager, installing new software couldn't be easier. Of course, you can learn all of the terminal commands to manage your installed software by hand, but you don't have to; the Software Manager should meet all your basic package management needs.

There is a great deal of applications available such as games, web browsers, music/video players, instant message clients, and more. There's most likely a program available to fit any need you can think of. To get some practice, let's grab a few new programs.

To install a new software package, first find it within the Software Manager application. You can click on a category and browse the available applications if you would like. Once you find an application you'd like to install, double-click on it, and then in the next screen, click on the Install button. Your new application will start downloading from Mint's repositories and then will be installed right away. Once the installation is complete...

Removing applications

So, at this point, you've likely installed quite a few applications. Some of them may be great, but perhaps other applications might have failed to impress you. Using the Software Manager, you can easily remove unneeded applications.

To do so, open the Software Manager and search for the application that you would like to remove by typing your query into the search field at the top-right corner of the window. Once the search results are loaded, click on View in the file menu and uncheck Available packages so that only Installed packages remains checked. Then, double-click on the application you would like to remove and click on the Remove button on the next screen.

Note

If you'd like, you can even remove applications that came bundled with Mint if you don't think you'll ever use them. But be careful, if any of the applications you attempt to remove are a dependency of another application, you'll lose both. Pay careful attention to the output of the removal process, especially...

Using the Synaptic Package Manager

The Synaptic Package Manager has been around for over a decade. Synaptic is essentially a frontend to package management just as the Software Manager is, but with more advanced options available. The average person may not need to use it, though power users and administrators may appreciate having more control. Synaptic is also installed by default in Linux Mint, and is available in the Applications menu underneath Administration.

The first thing you will likely notice is that Synaptic is not as polished as the Software Manager. On the left-hand side, you will see a list of sections by default, which are the same idea as the categories in the Software Manager. You may also notice that there are many more sections in Synaptic with more advanced sections such as kernels, modules, and libraries. The following screenshot shows the main window of the Synaptic Package Manager:

To illustrate the main differences, the best way is to use Synaptic for both adding and...

Configuring software sources

In most Linux distributions, Mint included, software is distributed by repositories. As mentioned earlier, one of the most distinctive differences between one distribution and another is the format of the available software packages and the way they are installed. Typically, packages are changed and then placed into a repository. By default, a distribution would ship with the default set of repositories allowing you to install new packages right away. For most users, the default repositories are all that's needed. However, over time, you may find that you want to use a software package but you're unable to find it while searching for the package in the Synaptic Package Manager or Software Manager. This could simply mean that you mistyped the name of the package while searching, but most commonly it means that the package may not be available in the repository.

One example of this is Google's web browser, Chrome. If Chrome is a web browser you like to use and you...

Advanced package management

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the graphical tools available for package management in various distributions are merely frontends to the underlying package commands specific to that distribution. These graphical tools take care of the logic for you. In fact, you could completely skip learning the underlying commands and work entirely within the easy-to-use graphical tools to manage your installed software. However, it's very useful to understand how the internals of package management work in case you find yourself in a situation where the GUI tools fail to function.

Here's an example that can help clear up the relationship between package management commands and graphical tools such as the Software Manager. Take the following command, for example:

sudo apt-get install filezilla

When the preceding command is run in the terminal, it will instruct your system to fetch the FileZilla application from Mint's repositories and install it. Your system will also...

Keeping your system up to date

Software updates in the Linux world are typically released for one of the three purposes. New versions of packages are released to fix bugs, patch security vulnerabilities, or add new features. By now, you've most likely come across Mint's Update Manager if you were at any point prompted to update your system (which typically first happens right after installation finishes). Keeping your system up to date is strongly recommended. However, it's not out of the realm of possibility that a theoretical bad update could crash your system. This rarely happens, but it's always a good idea to keep current backups just in case, especially when administering your system.

In Linux Mint, there are two ways to update your system. You can use a subcommand of apt-get (which we'll get into shortly), but Mint also provides a graphical utility simply known as Update Manager that will also accomplish your needs. Whichever method you use is up to you, but Mint's Update Manager is...

Summary

In this chapter, we went over how to install new software packages as well as updates. We started out with an overview of the basics of how software management differs in Linux than in other platforms. The Software Manager was demonstrated, and hopefully you used it to browse available packages and found some great applications. We also covered removing programs, the Synaptic Package Manager and how it differs from the Software Manager, as well as how to install and remove packages using terminal commands. We finished the chapter with an overview of installing package updates.

In the next chapter, we'll have even more fun by enjoying some multimedia files in Mint. You will be shown how to perform activities such as listening to MP3s, playing DVDs, importing photos from a digital camera, and more!