Published Oct 26, 2023, 9:15 AM EDT
Bertel is a lifelong tech enthusiast with over a decade of experience writing thousands of articles about Android devices, Linux, and more.
Before joining the MakeUseOf team, Bertel wrote for the likes of MakeTechEasier and Android Police—at the latter he wrote over 3,500 articles. You can also find Bertel's work at How-To Geek. Wherever you read his articles, though, he delights in helping others decide which tech to bring into their lives... and which tech to do without.
Bertel graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2012 with degrees in History and Government. He has spent his entire career since as a tech journalist covering Android, Linux, Wearables, Web Apps, and more.
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On Windows, people are accustomed to downloading app installers from a web browser. This is not the standard way to install apps on Ubuntu, but it has been an option more-or-less from the beginning.
Instead of the EXE format, Ubuntu apps have traditionally come as DEBs that you could double-click to install. But if you try to double-click a DEB file in Ubuntu 23.10, you will be greeted with an error. It won't work.
Fortunately, you aren't entirely out of luck.
How to Install DEBs Using GDebi
GDebi is a standalone app for installing DEBs. You can find it by opening App Center and searching for "GDebi." You won't see any results at first. That's because, by default, App Center only shows apps that are available in the Snap format.
To change this, you need to change the filter in the search results to show Debian packages. Then "GDebi" will appear.
Select the app and hit the Install button.
Now you can install DEBs you've downloaded from a browser, so return to the folder containing the DEB you attempted to install before. When you double-click it, instead of error message, you should see GDebi open and go through the installation process.
Install DEBs Using the Terminal
If you only plan to install one DEB you've downloaded and don't see yourself doing it again, you don't need to install extra software for the job. Ubuntu still comes with everything you need, assuming you're willing to use the command line.
You will use the dpkg command, a tool used for installing, listing, and removing DEB packages.
To install the package, run the command below, being sure to change the location to match the location of your DEB:
sudo dpkg -i /home/user/location/app.debThat's it!
Do You Need to Install DEBs in Ubuntu?
For most software, no. Like on your phone, the standard way to get software on Linux is from an app store or something very similar known as a package manager. Installing DEBs manually isn't recommended, the same way sideloading APKs on Android invites security risks,
But some prominent companies make DEBs available as an officially supported way to install software, as is the case with Google Chrome and Discord. To break this installation method is not a good look, especially for newcomers, and hopefully Canonical has resolved the issue by the time the next version of Ubuntu lands in April 2024.