package management on ubuntu
Why did you choose ubuntu as your platform? Every one must have reason(s) for that.
For me, one of main reasons is easy access of software packages. (Remember the days of Solaris 8 when one had to install all the necessary packages manually by pkgadd...)
How are software packages repositories maintained on ubuntu? Take google-chrome as example and see how it goes.
apt & dpkg
Ubuntu makes use of apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) for package maintenance. apt resolves depency among packages and gives user a convenient way of package utilization.
And apt is dependent upon dpkg. dpkg is a tool to manipulate deb format packages.
Setup & Installation
In case that you add some repository, you need to trust this repository by adding its public key. Retrieve public key and add it into key repository.
$ wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
The relevant public key will be stored into /etc/apt/trusted.gpg file.
$ sudo apt-key list
/etc/apt/trusted.gpg
--------------------
pub 1024D/7FAC5991 2007-03-08
uid Google, Inc. Linux Package Signing Key <linux-packages-keymaster@google.com>
sub 2048g/C07CB649 2007-03-08
Then add google repository in source list.
$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
Finally install google-chrome.
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable
Summary
Software package related items are stored under /etc/apt directory. In case that you add new software package, which are not listed in default repository, you need to add.
- public key (trusted.gpg)
- package location (<package>.list)