Using the Testing Repository
Using the Testing Repository is just like using the regular Google
repositories; just replace the word "stable" with "testing" in the repository
path.
Note: The Testing Repository is meant to supplement the regular
Google repositories. If you want access to all the available software, you must
include both the testing and regular repositories in your package manager
configuration.
For instance, to configure Apt, you would add the following lines to your
configuration file:
# Google repository
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free
# Google testing repository
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ testing non-free
Note that you also need to follow the other steps specified in the regular
repository configuration guides, such as importing the Google package signing key.
Then, for example, you can install the latest test version of Picasa by doing:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install picasa
Ubuntu 9.04 comes with a very powerful digital photo editor called GIMP. GIMP is comparable to Adobe Photoshop in its feature set. However, sometimes you might just want to do quicker, simpler edits like crop, resize, red-eye removal, auto-adjust, etc. For such tasks, Picasa is easier to use. Above are the instructions to install Picasa 3 in a way which will enable auto-updates. This is the best practice when installing Linux software.
Actually, rather than editing your configuration file, it's even simpler if you go to System > Software Sources > Third party Software then click the "Add" button, paste the first deb line, etc.
Then copy the text from the package signing key, paste it into text editor and save with a name like Google_PGP_Key. Then click Authentication > Import Key File, navigate to the file you just saved, and select it. You should now see an entry that says "Google, Inc. Linux Package Signing Key." Then you can run the apt-get commands in the Terminal. Now you have Picasa 3, with auto-updates - yay!
