How to remove the “For Purchase” section from the Software Center?

Question

The Software Center has a section of For Purchase programs —see screenshot below—,
which is annonying me every time I want to install something.

Is there any way to remove or hide these programs from the Software Center?

Links to answers:

For 12.10 and higher →
For 12.04 →
For 11.10 and lower →
Please leave a comment or send a mail to jmendeth@gmail.com
if it's not working for you or you're having trouble!

Answer 1

For 12.10 and later

^{Derived from jmendeth answer.}
Different version? Go to the list.
See the end of the post if you are in trouble and want to revert the changes.

Close the Software Center if it's open.
Now open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and type:

gksu gedit /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/update.py

And press Enter. You'll be prompted for your password.
Then an editor will appear. Locate the following lines (hint: Ctrl + F may help):

        doc = self.make_doc(cache)
        if not doc:
            LOG.debug("%r.index_app_info: returned invalid doc %r, ignoring.",
                      self.__class__.__name__, doc)
            return
        name = doc.get_data()

Immediately after those lines, paste the following (including the spaces!):

        if doc.get_value(XapianValues.PRICE) not in (""): return

Save the file (Ctrl + S) and close the editor, but not the terminal.
Now type in the terminal:

gksu gedit /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/backend/channel_impl/aptchannels.py

Press ENTER. An editor will appear again. Locate these lines:

        if get_distro().PURCHASE_APP_URL:
            channels.append(for_purchase_channel)

And disable them by putting a # in front of every line:

        #if get_distro().PURCHASE_APP_URL:
        #    channels.append(for_purchase_channel)

Save the file, close the editor but not the terminal.
In the terminal, type:

gksu echo; update-software-center; exit

Wait a bit, the terminal will automatically close when finished...
Then open the Software Center and… voila!
There are no commercial programs!

Side notes: The. files. are. packaged.

What does this mean, you ask? This means that,
whenever you upgrade your Software Center, the changes
will be reverted and you'll have to do this steps again.

Undo the modifications

If you want to restore the original state of the files,
open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall software-center && exit

Again, you will be prompted for your password, this time on the terminal.
Type it and press ENTER. Don't worry if nothing appears when you type, it's to hide your password.
The terminal will automatically close when finished.

Answer 2

For 11.10 and earlier

You can edit:

/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/backend/channel.py

and comment out (or delete) the following lines:

for_purchase_channel = None

---

#create a "magic" channel to display items available for purchase                                              `
        for_purchase_query = xapian.Query("AH" + AVAILABLE_FOR_PURCHASE_MAGIC_CHANNEL_NAME)
        for_purchase_channel = SoftwareChannel(self.icons, 
                                             "For Purchase", None, None, 
                                             channel_icon=None,   # FIXME:  need an icon
                                             channel_query=for_purchase_query,
                                             installed_only=installed_only)

---

if partner_channel is not None:
        #    channels.append(partner_channel)
        #channels.append(for_purchase_channel)

Of course, you should have in mind that consequent updates to software-center will probably overwrite the script...

Check out this link for more details ;-)

Note: for 12.04 the filename is /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/backend/channel_impl/aptchannels.py. The same steps apply.

Answer 3

For 12.04

^{Derived from Pavlos G. answer and inspiration from Darmien answer.}
Different version? Go to the list.
See the end of the post if you are in trouble and want to revert the changes.

---

1. Ignore the purchasable apps

Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and type:

gksu gedit /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/update.py

And press Enter. You'll be prompted for your password.
Then an editor will appear. Locate the following lines (hint: Ctrl + F may help):

        doc = make_doc_from_parser(parser, cache)
        if not doc:
            LOG.debug("make_doc_from_parser() returned '%s', ignoring" % doc)
            return
        term_generator.set_document(doc)
        name = doc.get_data()

Immediately after those lines, paste the following (including the spaces!):

        if doc.get_value(XapianValues.PRICE) not in (""): return

Note: if you want to keep stuff that doesn't cost money, but has to be "purchased"
(like trials, magazines and other propietary stuff), replace ("") with ("0.00", "").

Save the file (Ctrl + S), open the Software Center and… voila!
There are no commercial programs!
You can close the editor and the terminal now.

2. Remove the "For purchase" channel (optional)

To also remove that "For purchase" item in the menu, open a terminal and type:

gksu gedit /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/backend/channel_impl/aptchannels.py

Locate these lines:

        if get_distro().PURCHASE_APP_URL:
            channels.append(for_purchase_channel)

And disable them by putting a # in front of every line:

        #if get_distro().PURCHASE_APP_URL:
        #    channels.append(for_purchase_channel)

Save and enjoy a software center without ads!

 

---

Side notes: The. files. are. packaged.

What does this mean, you ask? This means that,
whenever you upgrade your Software Center, the changes
will be reverted and you'll have to do this steps again.

Undo the modifications

If you want to restore the original state of the files,
open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall software-center && exit

Again, you will be prompted for your password, this time on the terminal.
Type it and press ENTER. Don't worry if nothing appears when you type, it's to hide your password.
The terminal will automatically close when finished.

Answer 4

I found a way to hide commercial results for 12.04:

In /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/ui/gtk3/models/appstore2.py:

After the lines:

def set_from_matches(self, matches):
    """ set the content of the liststore based on a list of
        xapian.MSetItems
    """
    LOG.debug("set_from_matches len(matches)='%s'" % len(matches))

Add the following line:

    matches[:] = [m for m in matches if (m.document.get_value(XapianValues.PRICE) in _FREE_AS_IN_BEER)]

It should only change what is displayed, but I did not test it much yet, so use at your own risks. And enjoy an ad-free software center.