UpgradeGnomeShell

Revision 37 as of 2015-09-20 11:40:16

Contents

How to upgrade your shell
How to revert back
Feedback

Quick Links
FAQs
Basic HOWTOs
Advanced HOWTOs

How to upgrade your shell

Important note

It is not advised to proceed. Packages in the Gnome3 and Staging PPAs are mainly for testing purposes. It is always recommended to stick to the version provided with the current release of Ubuntu.

Packages from these archives should be removed prior to an upgrade to a greater version of the OS, such as moving from 14.04 to 14.10 and so on!

Check your version

Open up a terminal window
type in gnome-shell --version

For updates on which version is the most recent follow The GNOME Foundation's official pages.

Add the PPAs and update

before adding the PPAs, please make sure your system is fully up-to-date by running sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -f in a Terminal window
then, in the same Terminal window run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

(you can copy these commands one by one and paste them in order in a Terminal window with CTRL+Shift+V)

Reboot and enjoy

After everything's done you have to reboot your computer in order for the changes to take effect.

How to revert back

As mentioned above, packages in the Gnome3 and Staging PPAs are intended for experienced users only. Should you run into difficulties it's always safest to remove them and restore original packages. This process is called purging.

Restore Gnome Shell

if you haven't already, you need to install a package called ppa-purge from the official repositories by running sudo apt install ppa-purge in a Terminal window
then, in the same Terminal window run:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging
sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt install ubuntu-gnome-desktop

The latter ubuntu-gnome-desktop package is important to add to ensure all packages are re-installed correctly.

(you can copy these commands one by one and paste them in order in a Terminal window with CTRL+Shift+V)

Just to be perfectly safe

While ppa-purge removes packages of added sources and disables them, it is important to remove added sources via the Software & Updates tool manually. Follow these easy steps to do so:

hit Super/Windows key on your keyboard
search for Software & Updates
navigate to the Other Software tab
look for the gnome3 and gnome3-staging PPAs and remove them (you will be prompted for your password)

Reboot