6

I've been a happy user of ChmSee since the awesome 10.10 to view and read my CHM ebooks. Today I tried to install chmsee on my Xubuntu machine, but both apt-get and the Software Center were unable to find the package!

I searched for the package and shockingly it seems that ChmSee is no longer available as of Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty.

Is this true? Why would anyone want to remove such a perfectly usable and functional application?


UPDATE: Since the chmsee package is long gone from the official repos of 14.04-Trusty, what matters more is how can a user of 14.04 install and have this awesome application back.

So I'm updating the question to also ask for a nice way to install and use chmsee on Ubuntu-14.04 Trusty. From 'nice' I mean a way with very few effort and least harm to the system. I don't like adding entire new repositories just to install one app!

4
  • 2
    The why's are unanswerable. I suspect this question would be a lot more awesome if you focused on "How do I get this useful app back" aspect of things. May 25, 2014 at 12:18
  • I agree. I will update my question. May 25, 2014 at 12:19
  • 2
    As an alternative, you can use xchm. sudo apt-get install xchm.
    – Parto
    May 26, 2014 at 4:59
  • 2
    @Parto I checked xchm and it seems to be a nice alternative. Thank you. May 26, 2014 at 5:09

5 Answers 5

8

Because it is not mantained anymore.
From its official webpage:

News
2013-08-25: Stop maintain.

I think that if you want to go in and developing/mantaining it no one will stop you! :D

2
  • Thanks for the info. I understand that un-maintained applications can cause security problems but in the case of chmsee which was stable and tested since 12.04 with no further changes till now, I'm not convinced this was a right choice. May 25, 2014 at 11:48
  • 5
    bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=723116 Debian removed it, nd as a result Ubuntu no longer imports it.
    – NGRhodes
    May 25, 2014 at 11:50
5

Why ChmSee was removed from 14.04 Trusty-Tahr?

As first answered by dadexix86, it's because ChmSee is not maintained anymore by the upstream.

How to install and use ChmSee on 14.04 the nice way?

Several other people have tried to answer this using PPA and adding new repositories. But these are not methods I consider nice! Feel free to disagree with me but this is how I personally feel fit.

The method of my preference is as follows:

  1. Go to the Ubuntu-packages page on chmsee for Saucy.
  2. At the botton of the page, download the proper .deb package for your system.
  3. The list of dependencies for this package is also listed in that page. Install them using the following command (though, all of them were already installed on my system):

    sudo apt-get install libc6 libchm1 libgcrypt11 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libglib2.0-0 libgtk2.0-0 libpango1.0-0 libwebkitgtk-1.0-0 libxml2

  4. Install the package:

    for 32-bit systems:

    sudo dpkg -i chmsee_1.3.0-2ubuntu2_i386.deb
    

    for 64-bit systems:

    sudo dpkg -i chmsee_1.3.0-2ubuntu2_amd64.deb
    

I have tested this on my own 14.04 machine and I can confirm it works.

2

After trying, here is a little summary of alternative chm reader:

xchm

Designed for xice, but also good for gnome/kde. This seems to be the simplest & best choice for ubuntu 14.04+.

install: sudo apt-get install xchm

kchmviewer

Design for kde, but also could use on gnome.

install: sudo apt-get install kchmviewer

Tip: on gnome, the installation need install kde related package (e.g kde-runtime), thus need download a lot (around 60Mb), and take a lot disk space (around 140Mb).

1

You can download ChmSee Run the following code:

wget -q -O - http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu trusty-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'

and then install it using:

sudo apt-get install chmsee
2
  • 3
    This code adds a repository to my apt list. Is this repo considered safe? I mean is it certain that it won't cause any conflicts with the official Ubuntu packages? I would prefer simply downloading a .deb package instead of adding an entire repo just to install one app! May 25, 2014 at 11:46
  • Unfortunately chmsee doesn't exist in any official Ubuntu Repo, and i think there is no way to pull an app from a repo and go away without adding the whole repository... and the other repo like dnjl/ppa is useful too and it's (Trusty) repository.
    – Hedwig
    May 25, 2014 at 11:51
0

ChmSee can be installed in 14.04 with the Launchpad Repository ppa:dnjl/ppa. Here there is the version 2.0.2.

When Chmsee was stopped in 2013.08.25 the last version was 2.0.2

** Even though that repository tells it is precise version, that 2.0.2 version is the latest.

sudo add-apt repository ppa:dnjl/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install chmsee

Also see What are PPAs, how do I use them, and are they safe?

4
  • 1
    Thanks for the PPA. Although as said in another comment, I prefer to simply download and install a .deb package instead of adding an entire repository just to install one app! May 25, 2014 at 11:51
  • You don't get it both ways. You can have whatever you want with rebuilds and PPAs, but it means you have to add them. Just wanting to install a deb and making it a disqualifier for an answer makes it sound more like complaining. May 25, 2014 at 12:06
  • 4
    chmsee in that ppa is not available for Trusty. And indeed, it cannot be installed on Trusty due to missing dependencies (xulrunner).
    – dadexix86
    May 25, 2014 at 12:33
  • 1
    @hbdgaf I took a closer look at the PPA and chmsee is not available for Trusty by that PPA. So basically this answer is not correct. The NICE and SAFE way is explained in another answer. May 26, 2014 at 5:00

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .