Eddy is a simple Debian package management GUI tool in Elementary OS that allows installation of Debian packages by dragging and dropping Debian files onto a GUI window. The tool can be installed straight from App Center platform or installed from source.
This tutorial shows the installation of eddy which is a simple Debian package manager used for installing '.deb' files in Elementary OS. Let's see how we can install from source on Elementary 0.4.1 Loki.
Installing from AppCenter is the preferred way of installing Eddy since it contains the stable, tested version of the application. Compiling from source provides you with the latest "commit" with the newest functionality that may not be released as a part of an update in AppCenter or in general.
Installing Eddy from AppCenter
Click on the 'Applications' tab located at the top left corner of your screen and locate the AppCenter icon. This can also be found at the bottom docker of your Elementary OS screen.
launch the application and type 'eddy' in the search bar at the top right corner and click on 'free' button to install the application.
Installing Eddy from source
Log in as superuser and update your Elementary OS system first.
apt-get update
Installing git
We'll require git in our system to enable us to clone the eddy repository from GitHub.
apt-get install git
Install dependencies
The below packages will be required for successful installation of Eddy. Install them using the command below.
- valak
- gtk+-3.0
- granite
- packagekit-glib2
- unity
apt install valac libgranite-dev libpackagekit-glib2-dev libunity-dev
Clone eddy repository
After installation of dependencies, clone the eddy repository to your Elementary OS using the command below.
git clone https://github.com/donadigo/eddy.git
root@jamie-VirtualBox:/home/jamie# git clone https://github.com/donadigo/eddy.git Cloning into 'eddy'... remote: Counting objects: 771, done. remote: Total 771 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 771 Receiving objects: 100% (771/771), 515.62 KiB | 231.00 KiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (481/481), done. Checking connectivity... done.
Navigate to the eddy directory
After successfully cloning the repository, navigate to the eddy directory.
cd eddy
Make a new directory build and cd into it.
mkdir build && cd build
Before we begin compiling Eddy from source, let's install cmake utility tool.
apt-get install cmake
Building
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
Finally, issue the command 'make install'
make install
Sample Output
root@jamie-VirtualBox:/home/jamie/eddy/build# make install [ 6%] Generating Application.c;MainWindow.c;config.c;Constants.c;AppSettings.c;Package.c;TransactionResult.c;MimeTypeHelper.c;FolderLoader.c;DetailedView.c;PackageListView.c;PackageRow.c;MessageDialog.c unity.vapi:97.4-97.13: warning: [Deprecated] is deprecated. Use [Version (deprecated = true, deprecated_since = "", replacement = "")] /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:31.9-31.17: warning: Granite.Application.app_years has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:36.9-36.16: warning: Granite.Application.app_icon has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:37.9-37.16: warning: Granite.Application.main_url has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:38.9-38.15: warning: Granite.Application.bug_url has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:39.9-39.16: warning: Granite.Application.help_url has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:40.9-40.21: warning: Granite.Application.translate_url has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:41.9-41.21: warning: Granite.Application.about_authors has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:42.9-42.25: warning: Granite.Application.about_translators has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use /home/jamie/eddy/src/Application.vala:44.9-44.26: warning: Granite.Application.about_license_type has been deprecated since 0.4.2. Use Compilation succeeded - 10 warning(s) Scanning dependencies of target com.github.donadigo.eddy
Executing eddy
Let's now execute eddy by running the command below.
make install com.github.donadigo.eddy
Sample Output
[100%] Built target com.github.donadigo.eddy [100%] Built target i18n Install the project... -- Install configuration: "" -- Up-to-date: /usr/bin/com.github.donadigo.eddy -- Up-to-date: /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/com.github.donadigo.eddy.gschema.xml -- Compiling GSettings schemas
Let's see how we can install Skype from a Debian file.
- Launch Eddy
2. Drag and drop your .deb file or click to open the path of your .deb file
3. In the pop-up window that appears, click 'Install'. You'll be prompted for Administrator's authentication.
4. Your Debian package will start installing and eventually, the setup will wrap up.
If you are not familiar with installing packages on terminal or command line, the eddy tool can come quite in handy and simplify management of Debian packages. Give it a try and tell us your thoughts.
