[Bug 997371] Re: Create command to add "multiverse" and "-backports" to apt sources

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** Branch linked: lp:~evfool/software-properties/lp997371

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Title:
  Create command to add "multiverse" and "-backports" to apt sources

Status in “software-properties” package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  Based on a discussion at UDS-Q a simple command is desired to be able
  to add/enable "multiverse" and/or "-backports" in the apt repositories
  on a system.

  Background:  Right now, it is trivial to add a PPA to the apt sources
  using the apt-add-repository command.  For example, I can tell
  somebody on IRC/email/blog to run these commands:

      sudo apt-add-repository ppa:awstools-dev/awstools && 
      sudo apt-get update && 
      sudo apt-get install elbcli

  Presto! They have the correct package installed and this works on a
  number of different Ubuntu releases.

  Unfortunately, it is much more common to point people to the more
  popular "multiverse" (and occasionally "-backports") sections of the
  standard apt repositories, but it is much more difficult to describe
  how to enable these.

  For example, to install the ec2-api-tools currently available in
  multiverse, I have to provide non-standard and confusing instructions
  like:

      # Enable "multiverse" in your apt sources using something like
      sudo perl -pi -e \
        'next if /-backports/; s/^# (deb.* multiverse)$/$1/'   /etc/apt/sources.list
      # unless you're on an older version of Ubuntu which has a different sources.list
      # format, in which case you might need to use something like:
      sudo perl -pi -e 's%(universe)$%$1 multiverse%' /etc/apt/sources.list
      # then
      sudo apt-get update &&
      sudo apt-get install ec2-api-tools

  I would much rather be able to simply say something like:

      sudo apt-add-source multiverse &&
      sudo apt-get update &&
      sudo apt-get install ec2-api-tools

  (I don't care about the name of the tool.  I just want it to be easy
  to provide in instructions.)

  In addition to "multiverse" it would be nice to support "-backports"
  and perhaps "partner".

  Ideally, this would be available for all active Ubuntu releases, but
  getting it in going forward would be a good start.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
  Package: apt 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10
  ProcVersionSignature: User Name 3.2.0-23.36-virtual 3.2.14
  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-virtual x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu5
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Wed May  9 21:50:13 2012
  Ec2AMI: ami-a29943cb
  Ec2AMIManifest: (unknown)
  Ec2AvailabilityZone: us-east-1a
  Ec2InstanceType: m1.small
  Ec2Kernel: aki-825ea7eb
  Ec2Ramdisk: unavailable
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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