How To Enable Google Repositories On Linux

Frankly speaking, I didn't know that Google has its own package repository (maybe I'm a bit out of date ;) It supports several popular Linux distributions namely Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and Mandriva.

So now it's possible to install Google software like picasa directly from their repository, which is especially useful if you want to stay up to date with the latest software updates (what you normally do with other applications using your favourite package manager like apt or yum).

If you want to enable Google repositories on your Linux box, here is a quick HOWTO:

Debian and Ubuntu
If you are using Debian Etch or Ubuntu Feisty, do the following:

1. Download the file https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub and save it somewhere (in your HOME directory, for example)
2. Acquire root privileges and proceed:
   apt-key add $HOME$/linux_signing_key.pub
3. Edit your /etc/apt.sources file and add:
   # Google software repository
   deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free
4. Update your package manager's database:
   apt-get update

Fedora
With root privileges add file google.repo to /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory.
The file should contain the following lines:
[google]
name=Google - $basearch
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1

Mandriva
You really need to execute just one command as root:
urpmi.addmedia -v google http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386 with hdlist.cz