1. When should you use our repositories?
In general, you should use the repositories of your distribution. Adding third-party repositories to your /etc/sources.list has security implications and makes your apt-get update take longer. However, in some cases, using our repositories makes sense:
- You are using Debian stable
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The latest version of i3 will be in Debian testing quite soon. The version in Debian stable can be old, however (we cannot update it after stable has been released). The best way is to add Debian testing and tell apt to prefer Debian stable. You should not use our repository.
- You are using Ubuntu
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Only a handful of packages are maintained by Ubuntu developers. The rest is synchronized periodically from Debian, every 6 months. Therefore, Ubuntu often includes old versions of i3. You should use our Ubuntu repository.
- You want the latest i3 development version
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If you are using Debian (Debian-derived systems might work, too) and want the latest development version of i3, you should use our Debian repository.
2. Ubuntu repository
The Ubuntu repository is provided by sur5r and contains the latest stable release of i3. To use it, run the following commands:
# echo 'deb http://debian.sur5r.net/i3/ natty universe' >> /etc/apt/sources.list # apt-get update # apt-get --allow-unauthenticated install sur5r-keyring # apt-get install i3
The following Ubuntu versions are currently available: maverick, natty.
3. Debian repository
Our Debian repository contains packages which are automatically built a few minutes after every commit. To use it, run the following commands:
# echo 'deb http://build.i3wm.org/debian/i3-wm sid main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list # apt-get update # apt-get install i3-wm
To ensure that the autobuilt i3 packages will be preferred to the packages of your distribution, put the following entry at the beginning of your /etc/apt/preferences:
Package: * Pin: origin "build.i3wm.org" Pin-Priority: 1001
Then, install i3-wm.