How to install Chromium from the Linux Mint repositories in Ubuntu?

Question

I want to install Chromium from the Linux Mint repositories in Ubuntu 20.04, to avoid snap.

This answer describes how to install Chromium from the Debian repository.

However, the Linux Mint repository usually hosts an updated version of Chromium compared to Debian (as of 12th January 2022, LM 20 repository contains Chromium 97, whereas Debian 11 repository has Chromium 90), and also, Debian security team might soon discontinue maintaining Chromium.

Answer 1

There are a couple of steps required to make this work and, fortunately, it's not too crazy. Here's how you can do this:

0. Open Terminal (if it's not already open), and remove chromium snap package if you already have not.

   sudo apt purge chromium-browser
   

1. Create an apt source file for the Mint repository:

   _{For Ubuntu 20.04:}

   echo "deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una upstream" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint-una.list
   

   _{For Ubuntu 22.04 (and newer):}

   echo "deb http://packages.linuxmint.com victoria upstream" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint-victoria.list
   

2. To prevent NO_PUBKEY you have to add the GPG key by this:

   sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com A1715D88E1DF1F24 40976EAF437D05B5 3B4FE6ACC0B21F32 A6616109451BBBF2
   

3. Then update package lists by apt:

   sudo apt update
   

4. Prevent installation of other packages by pin-file:

   cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-chromium
   Package: *
   Pin: release o=linuxmint
   Pin-Priority: -1
   
   Package: chromium
   Pin: release o=linuxmint
   Pin-Priority: 1000
   EOF
   

5. Install chromium:

   sudo apt install chromium
   

6. Open chromium and check the About: ^{Note: You may want to change the landing page, which is all about Mint Una 😉}

This will give you what you're looking for 👍🏻

Answer 2

These directions are not necessarily incorrect. I do recommend using the vanessa repositories though. You can do this by doing the following:

1. Open a Terminal.

2. echo "deb http://packages.linuxmint.com vanessa upstream" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mint-vanessa.list

3. sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com A1715D88E1DF1F24 40976EAF437D05B5 3B4FE6ACC0B21F32 A6616109451BBBF2

NOTE: These same keys DO work. You may get a slight warning saying "W: http://packages.linuxmint.com/dists/vanessa/Release.gpg: Key is stored in legacy trusted.gpg keyring (/etc/apt/trusted.gpg), see the DEPRECATION section in apt-key(8) for details.", but as you probably know by now "W:" or warning signs aren't a big deal for the most part.

4. sudo apt update (or "sudo nala update" if you use nala.)

5. Again... prevent installation of other Linux Mint Repositories' packages by running the code above.

6. sudo apt install chromium (or "sudo nala install chromium" if you use nala.)

Disclaimer: By using this process, you are pulling chromium as a .deb package. If you ever want to return to the snap format, you can either run the installation via snap or reverse this process.