How can I upgrade gnome-terminal on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS?

Question

I would like to upgrade gnome-terminal to the latest version. Is that possible on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS?

I am using version 3.6.2 of gnome-terminal.

I have tried:

sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade gnome-terminal

and it says gnome-terminal is already the newest version.

Solution

You have two ways to upgrade your terminal from 3.6.2 (stable) to the latest 3.12.3 and read step by step do not run apt-upgrade unless you done installing.

1st solution with Gnome3/staging PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-terminal

2nd solution with this PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:towolf/transparent-gnome-terminal

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --reinstall gnome-terminal

Though this PPA may require Gnome3/staging PPA to be installed also, this 2nd PPA contains different fixes and patches on RGB schema and transparency, opacity etc.

Notice!

After you add PPAs like Gnome3/staging beware of upgrading as you can even damage your system this is the latest bleeding edge updates and they don't guarantee the stability, so after you install gnome-terminal it's better to purge them e.g.:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging

sudo apt-get update

(PPA-purge has to be installed 1stly sudo apt-get install ppa-purge)

Comments

[Admin]

Is there any reason you need this? Ubuntu releases don't aim to provide the always latest software but security patches.

[Admin]

Yes I was considering reporting a possible bug in gnome-terminal, and then I ought to first try the latest version before reporting.

[Admin]

Since Ubuntu 14.04 won't get any new major version of the software it has you might as well just report the bug.

[Admin]

Ok, I might do that then.. I guess it is not possible then due to some sort of policy or maybe that it could cause conflicts with existing software, so then you are forced to upgrade Ubuntu first.. to get the latest version?

[Håkon Hægland]

It would be nice if I could also keep the old version. For example, the old version could be called gnome-terminal3.6.2 and the new one is simply gnome-terminal.. but I guess that would be asking for trouble? :)

[JoKeR]

yep two packages of the same will lead to conflicts either way after you remove the ppa you'll be able to get back to 3.6.2 version any time.

[Vikash Balasubramanian]

After the ppa purge is done it automatically downgrades terminal to previous version, how do i prevent that?

[JoKeR]

yes it will do that because you removed the libs repo when you removed ppa and apt doesn't see it anymore though you can put a specific package on hold when updating

[Ciprian Tomoiagă]

what if instead of ppa-purge you just remove the corresponding line of the PPA ? Wouldn't that keep the package

[JoKeR]

well if that won't do any harm to the system you can try but I always prefer complete and tested solutions.

[Håkon Hægland]

An alternative to using PPA is to compile from source, then you can keep the different versions side-by-side.