Apturl: Install Apps from Firefox - Ubuntu tip

Think installing applications in Linux is too complicated? If you don't like reading about cool new software only to find out you have to launch a terminal window or package manager to install it (as opposed to Windows applications which you can download and install from the web page where you read about them), Apturl helps simplify the process.

Apturl is a protocol that's included in Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 by default. But if it's not installed for some reason, you'll have to open up a terminal window at least one more time and type "sudo apt-get install apturl" (without the quotes). From now on you can install any application you like from the Firefox web browser just by typing "apt:package_name" into the location bar. For example, if you want to install the AbiWord word processor, you'd type "apt:abiword" and a window will pop up asking if you'd like to install the application.

Apturl also lets users create links on web pages that will let visitors automatically download and install applications. Just create a hyperlink to "apt:abiword," or any other package, add the link to your page, and when you tell visitors about cool new Ubuntu software they might want to try out, they can install it without leaving your web site.

There's no risk of downloading malicious software, because Apturl will only install applications that are available in the repositories you've enabled for your computer. That means a team of Linux developers has looked over every single application that you could possibly download this way, unless you add an untrusted repository. So if you happen across a web site that tells you to add a repository with a name like "deb http://dangerous.software.com/risky main" before clicking on links to install applications, you might want to be careful. Otherwise, you should be safe.

[via Linux Hack3r and Digg]

Tags: apt-get, apturl, opensource, ubuntu