FWIW instead of dpkg -i stuff.deb, you can use apt as such: apt install ./stuff.deb (The path syntax like ./ is required to use a local file instead of searching for a package name).
Unlike dpkg, apt is able to fetch dependencies if needed.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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Gnome-Software and GDebi can do exactly that for you. Download a deb, right click "open with X", and they'll install it for you using GUI. You can even change file associations so debs are opened by gdebi/gnome-software by simple double-clicking.
Strange when I double click a .deb and or a .flatpakref file the gnome software application opens with the option to install that package. (Linux mint)
This is deliberately not allowed in order to ensure that Linux remains exclusive for nerds.
the monkey's paw curls a finger and your wish is granted
you can now right click and select install. But it doesn't actually install properly.
It doesn't check dependencies.
You have 356 different copies of libcurl installed on your system.
Nginx, Apache and Lighttpd are all running in the background and collectively using the same port, somehow.
Wayland and X are both running with multiple sessions but none of them are on the default TTY.
dpkg doesn't? I sometimes use apt install command but didn't think it mattered if the deb package was configured right.
It's an embellishment on the above monkey's paw comment, not actual technical information.
@RommieDroid It’s not there by default, but Gdebi can do the trick. I used it quite a lot when I first started with Linux.
That's awesome. Thank you.
@RommieDroid No problem. Many of us are here to help in the #linux community, though I wouldn’t say I’m the most advanced with it.
I use Mint and I just double-click *.deb files to install them. Ubuntu does not do this?
Just use nautilus-action
If you have Nautilus as the filemanager, you can write a Nautilus script that does this for you, you just then have to right click and select the script. You can run essentially any script this way, I use it for some preset file conversions.
I much preferred the windows way, shocker, with just downloading and double-click the exe file.
This is appimage!
Om, AppImage is portable exe. Has it's uses.
Is this really a common occurrence for you, that the package isn't available via apt?
On Debian it is. The stable branch is a pain. I need to switch to something else.
Ah, understandable.
May I talk to you about our lord and savio, NixOS? (Only kinda /s)
I'm open to conversion!
Nice!
How much do you know of nix? (Just gauging where I should start in my propaganda script :D)
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If it's only due to the branch, i.e. a package or desired version isn't available in stable but is in testing or unstable, you may try using pinning.
Reading, thank you.
Most end-user software is not in Debian/Ubuntu repos. Sublime Text, Discord, Anydesk, Google Earth, Ente Photos, Synergy, Steam, NordVPN... The list goes on. You download a Deb from their website.
I really don't understand why it's not more streamlined, it should work like an exe where I just click it and it installs and handles dependencies automatically.
Installing a random .deb comes with enormous security implications. I am not sure that making the process more beginner friendly is a really good idea.
"Beginner friendly" should be limited to things from the main repositories, and for that there is the Software Center.
What linux does and does not protect the user from is endlessly hilarious to me.
Hey linux, I want to install a file you downloaded.
Linux: Sounds risky man
I'd like my file explorer to have super user privleges.
Linux: Are you out of your god damned mind?
Hey linux, I want to delete the kernel that I'm actively using right now.
Linux: Hell yeah. I'll go to the looney bin with you.
Not any more dangerous than installing a random exe. And a GUI that opens when you click one could explain that danger much better than what currently happens: people blindly use sudo dpkg and that's it.
It's the same thing with .exe on windows. It's potentially dangerous and people need to be mindful what they download and install.
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@MangoPenguin @RommieDroid It’s more so that the people working on “beginner friendly” Linux distros are pushing users towards Software Centers/App stores these days.
Those of us who are familiar with the old ways don’t really have much trouble, but there’s stuff that is a big pain, like #LibreOffice
Installing the latest version of that is easier to do in the terminal and can’t be done as conveniently as what you propose, though I wish it was that easy.
I'm not so sure about those beginner-friendly distros, they seem a little doggy and miss out on the massive work that the Debian and Ubuntu teams do that a smaller team can not. Snap is good for small, one time use or untrusted apps. But most of the time, its performance is really slow. It needs some work.
@RommieDroid Most of them are based on Ubuntu, such as Mint and the stagnated Pop! OS.
I can’t say what they are all like, but Ubuntu and its family are all the ones adopting a software center/App store these days.
In the past, I remember using Synaptic for searching for software, which was just a GUI front end for APT.
I’ve been using Nala lately in my VMs though.
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When I was on popos I would just double click deb files and eddy would open and install
"popos" is german for "butts", PopOS! is a bit different
Eddy doesn't care which, he's installing
Just add your own context menu shortcut for .deb files that runs sudo deb -i $_
Wait, for real? Gen Alpha doesn't know what a file type is??
fr, windows hides the file type by default.
Windows has done this since I was a kid (I'm a millennial). Later gens have no excuse.
Not quite what you want, but in dolphin you can open a terminal with F4, and then just type sudo deb -i <package.deb> and your password. Pretty quick.
It's a useful shortcut.
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That's a bad idea because you have no clue if any random .deb file is actually compatible with your system or not (a .deb intended for use on Debian Bookworm will not necessarily work on Ubuntu 25.04, or vice-versa, for example). And that's on top of the security issues and lack of dependency resolution that others have mentioned already. If you're new enough to Linux that you don't feel comfortable with the terminal, you should not be trying to install things via .deb file to begin with.
Doesn't apt (not apt-get), unlike dpkg, perform a dependency resolution before installing a downloaded deb package?
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