Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

niftyprose · 2025-10-27 20:28

Hi guys, I just loaded the latest Q4os Andromeda (Trinity flavour) onto my laptop and like it very much -- it's a massive update but remains lightfooted although it is better-organized than Gemini, the version I've been using for my mobile PC for years.

However, I have hit a very specific issue with apt. I will set out my particular context but will stress that I don't need guidance re: OBS Studio -- it's the underlying apt issue which I need to resolve. Others may have encountered the same issue in different contexts.

CONTEXT: I need to install the latest OBS Studio, v31 or 32. Synaptic only has v29, so I need to get the version made available by the OBS Project.

I want to install via apt rather than flatpak, because I will need to add certain plug-ins. I would expect to add the OBS Project's third-party PPA to apt like so:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio -y

...but attempts to access the add-apt-rep command result in a "command not found" error.

I Googled the issue. About 20 sites document an "easy fix", which is to install software-properties-common into apt. I tried to carry out that fix three different ways, via apt, apt-get and aptitude... no joy.

For some reason, Q4os is resistant. I think this is a very specific issue with my favourite distro. Guidance please.

Last edited by niftyprose (2025-10-27 20:50)

hchiper · 2025-10-27 21:50

Did you receive an error message? Which one?

niftyprose · 2025-10-27 22:18

Well, "add-apt-repository" resulted in a "command not found" error, and "apt-get install" for the software-properties-common file resulted in "unable to locate package".

I'll post complete transcripts from Konsole if they're wanted but I figure the underlying issue is pretty clear: Andromeda can't add PPAs to apt because it can't access add-apt-repository; it can't access add-apt-repository because it doesn't have access to software-properties common; and the standard mechanisms for installing software-properties-common into apt don't work.

I began work on hand-editing the apt sources file earlier, but it contains only a note saying that it's been put elsewhere because I installed from a USB stick. Too tired to research where it is right now, and I'd rather not hand-edit such a crucial document anyways.

Last edited by niftyprose (2025-10-27 22:19)

hchiper · 2025-10-27 22:41

From what I can see on Debian packages search page, software-properties-common is not available for Debian trixe and so is not available either for Q4OS 6.

niftyprose · 2025-10-27 22:44

OK, so, in the absence of software-properties-common, how do I add a third-party PPA to apt's sources?

bin · 2025-10-28 07:56

To start with the PPA to which you refer is an Ubuntu PPA. Trying to install from there will probably lead to "issues"
Trixie shows OBS Studio 30.2.3 in the Debian repos
Debian Multimedia have 32.0.1 in https://deb-multimedia.org/pool/main/o/obs-studio-dmo/ now so it may be worth looking there.
You will find instructions on their site https://deb-multimedia.org/ as to how to add their repo to your system. It is a well known and respected site.

niftyprose · 2025-10-28 10:49

Hiya bin, thank you very much for such a constructive response.

I don't want to sound ungracious here, but I'm going to rereiterate that I want to address issues with apt in Andromeda rather than with OBS Studio. It's great to have that link to OBS 32.0.1 and I'll be happy to post my findings on a separate thread in case anyone else is trying to get an Obsbot working on Q4os. But, right now, it's back to apt!

As previously stated:
* I can't add a PPA to apt in my build of Andromeda using my normal route of add-apt-repository
* Andromeda can't access add-apt-repository because it doesn't have access to software-properties common

hchiper usefully added:
* software-properties-common is no longer available in Debian

=> In the absence of software-properties-common, how do I add a third-party PPA to apt's sources?

The issue described is much larger than one user's problems with OBS Studio. Logically, it would affect any apt user who wanted to add a PPA. I'm guessing that Trixie has a new mechanism available for adding PPAs but that the news hasn't been distributed yet?

Joy · 2025-10-28 11:39

niftyprose wrote:

hchiper usefully added:
* software-properties-common is no longer available in Debian
=> In the absence of software-properties-common, how do I add a third-party PPA to apt's sources?
The issue described is much larger than one user's problems with OBS Studio. Logically, it would affect any apt user who wanted to add a PPA. I'm guessing that Trixie has a new mechanism available for adding PPAs but that the news hasn't been distributed yet?

I do have the same issue with Plasma. Will there be a solution?

hchiper · 2025-10-28 13:03

niftyprose wrote:

=> In the absence of software-properties-common, how do I add a third-party PPA to apt's sources?

I googled on that and found some workarounds to use PPAs on Debian (not sure they even work). From what I could read, as #bin wrote, they are likely to cause issues (stability problems, ...). Since stability is one of the top priorities of Q4OS (see https://www.q4os.org/) I'll not make links to them in this forum. This will avoid other users of this forum to believe they might be safe to use. And I'll not discuss further that precise question either.

Nevertheless, other possibilities you didn't mention exist:
- install QuarkOS (which is Ubuntu-based) to use PPAs safely,
- building OBS Studio from source (extensive instructions are given).

niftyprose · 2025-10-28 14:47

I intend to keep my OBS Studio issues separate from those around Andromeda's apt implementation. If I remain with Q4os I will open a new OBS thread on this forum. However, my present focus is on Q4os and apt.

I prefer apt to build-from-source and indeed flatpak for all the usual reasons, which I won't rehearse here. Indeed, use of third-party repos or PPAs is fundamental to my workflow.

If Andromeda has been designed to prevent users from accessing PPAs, I will have to change distros. Thanks for the suggestion of QuarkOS. It's a possibility, but so are 10 or 12 others.

I'd be interested to hear from the Q4os team on this matter.

hchiper · 2025-10-28 15:06

niftyprose wrote:

If Andromeda has been designed to prevent users from accessing PPAs, ...

Q4OS is based on Debian. If Debian developers don't provide a package, Q4OS developers aren't responsible (Q4OS doesn't remove anything and doesn't prevent anything with respect to Debian).

niftyprose · 2025-10-28 15:11

Fair enough!

Joy · 2025-10-28 15:38

hchiper wrote:

Q4OS is based on Debian. If Debian developers don't provide a package, Q4OS developers aren't responsible (Q4OS doesn't remove anything and doesn't prevent anything with respect to Debian).

No worries!

q4osteam · 2025-10-29 22:41

@niftyprose, @Joy
PPA repositories had been introduced by Ubuntu. Adding PPA repositories to Debian is a possible source of issues, as they might be Debian incompatible. We believe it's a kind of Debian's devs purpose to omit ways for direct access to PPA repositories, please read Debian wiki https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian … nkenDebian . As Q4OS is based on Debian we are obliged and even want to keep the Debian approach.

Since you would want to use PPAs, we recommend you to use Ubuntu based distro Quarkos https://quark-os.sourceforge.io/

niftyprose · 2025-10-29 22:58

Thanks for the response, guys. I've already begun the process of migrating to a new distro. I've found Q4os an excellent operating system over the last six or seven years and will doubtless keep it installed on a couple of machines, so I may pop up on the forum again.

Q4OS Forum

#1 2025-10-27 20:28

Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#2 2025-10-27 21:50

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#3 2025-10-27 22:18

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#4 2025-10-27 22:41

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#5 2025-10-27 22:44

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#6 2025-10-28 07:56

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#7 2025-10-28 10:49

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#8 2025-10-28 11:39

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#9 2025-10-28 13:03

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#10 2025-10-28 14:47

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#11 2025-10-28 15:06

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#12 2025-10-28 15:11

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#13 2025-10-28 15:38

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#14 2025-10-29 22:41

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

#15 2025-10-29 22:58

Re: Andromeda: I can't update apt with software-properties-common

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