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Ubuntu App Developer Blog: Here comes the brand new Ubuntu SDK IDE tools Published Nov 19 2015 via RSS

planetUbuntu

In the last couple of weeks, we had to completely rework the packaging for the SDK tools and jump through hoops to bring the same experience to everyone regardless if they are on LTS or the development version of Ubuntu. It was not easy but we finally are ready to hand this beauty to the developer’s hands.

The two new packages are called “ubuntu-sdk-ide” and “ubuntu-sdk-dev” (applause now please).

The official way to get the Ubuntu SDK installed is from now on by using the Ubuntu SDK Team release PPA:

https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-sdk-team/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

Releasing from the archive with this new way of packaging is sadly not possible yet, in Debian and Ubuntu Qt libraries are installed into a standard location that does not allow installing multiple minor versions next to each other. But since both, the new QtCreator and Ubuntu UI Toolkit, require a more recent version of Qt than the one the last LTS has to offer we had to improvise and ship our own Qt versions. Unfortunately that also blocks us from using the archive as a release path.

If you have the old SDK installed, the default QtCreator from the archive will be replaced with a more recent version. However apt refuses to automatically remove the packages from the archive, so that is something that needs to be done manually, best before the upgrade:

sudo apt-get remove qtcreator qtcreator-plugin*

Next step is to add the ppa and get the package installed.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-sdk-team/ppa \
    && sudo apt update \
    && sudo apt dist-upgrade \
    && sudo apt install ubuntu-sdk

That was easy, wasn’t it :).

Starting the SDK IDE is just as before, either by running qtcreator or ubuntu-sdk directly and also by running it from the dash. We tried to not break old habits and just reused the old commands.

However, there is something completely new. An automatically registered Kit called the “Ubuntu SDK Desktop Kit”. That kit consists of the most recent UITK and Qt used on the phone images. Which means it offers a way to develop and run apps easily even on an LTS Ubuntu release. Awesome, isn’t it Stuart?

The old qtcreator-plugin-ubuntu package is going to be deprecated and will most likely be removed in one of the next Ubuntu versions. Please make sure to migrate to the new release path to always get the most recent versions.