Why fuck PPAs? I was just talking to someone who lamented that a different thing had a .deb file for download but no PPA?

main repo > .deb > ppa > "make" "make install".

At least, that's my opinion.

I say fuck PPAs because when you download a .deb, you know what you're getting. Sure, there's no way to update it once it's installed, but if you get to where it's hosted without getting a 404, and the dependencies aren't dusty bones, you're gold.

I usually have problems with PPAs. Especially with smaller projects. If I can't find a connection between who created the PPA and who created the program, I won't even bother because I know that even if it installs today, it will probably be abandoned later. At least, that's the kind of luck I've had with them.

...I miss the AUR.

Ah, okay. I can understand that. But don't PPAs distribute .deb files? In that case, can't you extract the .deb file from knowing where the PPA is?

...maybe. I've never tried.

IIUC, a PPA is a .deb file plus metadata for things like version and any additional dependencies. Seems to me like you can figure out where the .deb file is on the PPA since, ultimately, the .deb file is what apt-get is installing, no? :)