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Idea #7525: apt-get enable multiverse

Written by probono the 24 Apr 08 at 16:22. Category: System. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
Make it easy to enable multiverse/universe etc. from the command line without having to manually edit /etc/apt/sources.list

Have an easy-to-remember command like
"apt-get enable multiverse"
that changes souces.list accordingly and performs an apt-get update
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20
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #7525
Written by probono the 24 Apr 08 at 16:22.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #7525 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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Warbo wrote on the 25 Apr 08 at 00:09
How about making a package which enables/disables them, meaning no need to add commands to apt-get.

For example:

apt-get install universe

Will get a package from main which enables Universe. Removing the package removes Universe as a source.

Would this be too much of a support nightmare though, since main is fully supported, meaning that such packages must be fully supported (if they're not in main then there's no point having them since it doesn't make life easier), which could mean that Universe gets unwanted support requirements....

nazgand wrote on the 25 Apr 08 at 02:29
This is already a feature...
System>Administration>Software Sources

There are check boxes for both multiverse and universe.

peterjs wrote on the 25 Apr 08 at 17:31
+1 for using software source
-1 to the OP for not bothering to look before posting.

Hawke wrote on the 28 Apr 08 at 19:47
nazgand: And how to do that from the command line?

peterjs wrote on the 2 May 08 at 05:57
@Hawke

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.lst

Hawke wrote on the 6 Jun 08 at 18:45
peterjs: I'm just pointing out that there is no cli equivalent to "Software Sources" in the text interface. Of course it's possible to do everything by hand, but not exactly user-friendly. User-friendliness is one of the stated goals of Ubuntu.

dhart wrote on the 3 Dec 09 at 07:41
+1 good for scripting installs, e.g. with debbootstrap

Pierre Chef wrote on the 3 Dec 09 at 15:38
I don't think the user-friendliness goal of ubuntu includes the command line.

teolicy wrote on the 18 May 11 at 14:15
The views shown in this discussion are very disturbing to me, in the sense that it strengthens my feeling that Ubuntu and its community are losing touch with the UNIX philosophy. I'm all for making Linux friendlier on the desktop, but I use Ubuntu because it's UNIX with a nice UI, not the other way round.

Of course something so fundamental as /etc/apt/sources.list should have a CLI, of course the OP doesn't deserve a -1 for suggesting a CLI equivalent to a GUI tool, and of course that nano (or vi or emacs or whatever) is not a replacement for CLI. What's wrong with y'all?

I stand behind everything I said here for the usual Ubuntu ("desktop" Ubuntu). In the case of Ubuntu server, this is about ten times truer.

And for posterity, until this is resolved, here's how I'm going to solve it for now:
sudo perl -i -p -e 's#^(deb(-src)? http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ [a-z]+ main restricted universe)$#\1 multiverse#g' /etc/apt/sources.list
Ugh.

thefifthsetpin wrote on the 16 Jul 11 at 23:51
I also disagree with Pierre Chef.

User-friendliness should be a goal of all user interfaces. Whether the interface is command-line or graphical (or something else) is tangential.


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