KiCad stable/nightly versioning (Ubuntu)

Software
1

I’m running Ubuntu 24.04 and have apt repos for 9.x stable and nighties.

When 9.0.1 RC1 and RC2 came out my KiCad upgraded to that since I have the nighlty repo.

However now with 9.0.1 stable released, Ubuntu sees 9.0.1 RC1 > 9.0.1 so it doesn’t upgrade.

Is there any solution to this other than forcing a ‘downgrade’

apt-cache policy kicad
kicad:
  Installed: 9.0.1-rc2-testing-184+202503292320~1d443ca74c~ubuntu24.04.1
  Candidate: 9.0.1-rc2-testing-184+202503292320~1d443ca74c~ubuntu24.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 9.0.1-rc2-testing-184+202503292320~1d443ca74c~ubuntu24.04.1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/kicad/kicad-9.0-nightly/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     9.0.1-0~ubuntu24.04.1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/kicad/kicad-9.0-releases/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages

Only way to install 9.0.1 is to specify the version:

sudo apt install kicad=9.0.1-0~ubuntu24.04.1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  kicad

Does the RC versioning need to be relooked at?

2

Is there any solution to this other than forcing a ‘downgrade’

Not really; Ubuntu’s versioning scheme is not compatible with KiCad’s conventions. This topic has come up in the past and at the time we concluded we are not going to change how we label versions just to make it compatible with debian/ubuntu versioning.

3

Guess I will just have to live with it.

When doing a apt dist-upgrade apt will then install RC2 again :frowning:

I’ve put a hold on it
sudo apt-mark hold kicad

4

Is that the case even if you disable/remove the testing PPA?

My recommendation is do one of the following, in general:

  • just stay on the testing channel and get the updates daily
  • remove the testing PPA
5

Thanks. That is probably a better idea. I’ll just stay on the testing channel and remove stable channel.