How to install gnome-app-install?

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The software centre is slow and annoying (packages from additional repositories don’t show up sometimes etc.), so I want the old Add/remove software application back.
I’ve found out that the package is called gnome-app-install. The problem is that it just won’t let me install it.

When I run sudo apt-get install gnome-app-install it tells me this:

Warning, 'software-center' will be selected in stead of 'gnome-app-install'
software-center is already the latest version.

How do I get the old Add/remove software application back?

Answer

The problem you’re having is that gnome-app-install isn’t a real package, but a virtual package:

$ apt-cache show gnome-app-install
N: Can't select versions from package 'gnome-app-install' as it is purely virtual
N: No packages found

that is provided by software-center:

$ apt-cache show software-center
Package: software-center
Priority: optional
Section: gnome
...
Replaces: gnome-app-install, software-store
Provides: gnome-app-install, software-store

In fact, there isn’t any other package that provides gnome-app-install:

$ aptitude search '?provides(gnome-app-install)'
i   software-center                 - Utility for browsing, installing, and remo

Hence, I’d say that there isn’t any other official alternative that provides that virtual package, so I’d encourage you to report problems in the launchpad project page to help them get fixed in future releases.

Anyway, if you’re still unhappy with software-center, I suggest to give a try to synaptic.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : RobinJ , Answer Author : jcollado

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