How to install packages on ubuntu touch?

Question

I've got an Ubuntu Touch smartphone. Is it possible to install f.e. sshfs with apt-get install? Or what can I do else?

Answer 1

The phone images are designed to be upgraded via pre-installed images, so they are read-only and apt-get is not supported on them. Instead, packages targeted for the phone images are shipped through the app store, which you can access by scrolling to the bottom of the Apps scope, and tapping on the Store icon.

I'm not sure what you're trying to get out of having sshfs installed on the phone, but it is not packaged for the phone.

If you really need to use apt-get to install packages on the device for some reason, the best way to do so is by creating a chroot underneath the /home/phablet directory somewhere, and installing any necessary packages you might need to run, inside that chroot.

Answer 2

You need to make the phone read-write. This will almost certainly break system image updates, but you can do it.

First, enable developer mode. Install phablet-tools on a desktop computer, connect the phone over USB to it. Check you can use phablet-shell to get into the device (you need to have the screen unlocked).

Then, you can do phablet-config writable-image.

Then, once the phone has rebooted, sudo apt-get install should work.

Keep in mind the repositories you'll be using are not the main ones, you might need to switch.

Good luck!