I am confused about support for applications packaged for Ubuntu, whether distributed directly by Ununtu or in third-party repositories, in Elementary OS.

I have searched for LibreOffice and Firefox (though the latter is available in Ubuntu only as a snap, unless a further repository is added) in the AppCenter and found neither.

These applications being quite common and popular, it seems surprising that there is no direct path to installing them in Elementary. All around, it seems the offerings from the AppCenter, though they may be carefully curated, are rather limited.

What is the current attitude for Ubuntu packages being installed in a deployment of Elementary OS, and is any path available for installing them outside of the command line?

I would expect what you're asking to be answered in a FAQ, though I don't see any obvious links on the Elementary OS website.

Failing that, I would ask Elementary Support whether the OS is intended to be a walled garden, or do they explicitly support non-AppCenter software? (If the latter, via what mechanisms?)

Without an official answer, there's no guarantee that any method one might use in current release will continue to work in next release.

I am seeking support on this forum for the question. I am not understanding precisely what pathway you would suggest instead.

I am suggesting you ask the people who can actually answer your question: i.e the team behind Elementary and Elementary's AppCenter.

Assuming it's not documented somewhere, then - unless someone here has already asked the same question - likely all you'll get are guesses/opinions, and people asking for support tend to prefer certainty.


If you just want to know if it's possible, you can find that out by trying: add relevant repos to your Apt sources, do an "apt update", then see if you can install Synaptic or Gnome Software or some other GUI frontend for Apt, and see what happens.

This article may help: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/how-do...-machine/16197

I have no way of testing it.

I understand it is possible in principle to install Ubuntu packages, and as well, I understand how to do it.

I am trying to understand the current intent, or if you like, the philosophy, of Elemental, whether the designers expect users simply not to want more than a few applications from a carefully-curated selection, or whether they have some other expectation.

At the moment, the only way I know to install these packages is through the basic Debian command-line tools, which I am able to use, and which I am not prevented from using by any facet of the system design, but which I gather it is well understood many from the target demographic have neither the ability to use nor inclination to learn.