On Debian-based distros, when an app is available as a DEB or an AppImage (that doesn’t self-update), but no APT repository, PPA or Flatpak, the only option is to manually download each update, and usually manually check even whether there are updates.
But, what if those would be upgraded at the same time as everything else using the tools you’re familiar with ?
dynapt is a local web server that fetches those DEBs (and AppImages to be wrapped into DEBs) wherever those are, then serves these to APT like any package repository does.
I started building it a few months ago, and after using it to upgrade apps on my computers and servers for some time, I pre-released it for the first time last week.
The stable version will come with a CLI wizard to avoid this manual configuration.
Feedback is welcome :)
Looks great, well done.
Personally, the
deb-related annoyance that I have encountered most often in recent years is that there is an APT repo but I have to jump thru hoops to add it. An example issignal-desktop, where the handy one-click installation goes like this:# 1. Install our official public software signing key: wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null # 2. Add our repository to your list of repositories: echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |\ sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list # 3. Update your package database and install Signal: sudo apt update && sudo apt install signal-desktopWhy does Debian-Ubuntu not provide a simple command for this? Yes there is
add-apt-repositorybut for some reason it doesn’t deal with keys. I’ve had to deal with this PITA on multiple occasions, what’s up with this?Thanks, and agreed !
Fortunately, copy/pasting works and you only have to do it once.