I see that my favourite text editor Leafpad has been dropped by Debian and now also from Ubuntu versions 19.04 Disco Dingo and onward. How can I get this simple text editor installed now?
The good news is that it is relatively easy to compile and install Leafpad on a modern Ubuntu system. I demonstrate the 2 step technique on that has worked well most recently on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa:
Step 1: Dependencies...
A small number of build tools and dependencies are required, simply copy and paste the following single command into a Terminal window:
sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall intltool libgtk2.0-dev
The package manager will tend to drag in a few more interrelated dependencies along with this list...
Step 2: Download, compile and build...
The following single command will download the source, compile and install it. Simply copy the whole code block and paste it into a Terminal window:
mkdir -v $HOME/leafpad_build && cd $HOME/leafpad_build &&
wget http://savannah.nongnu.org/download/leafpad/leafpad-0.8.18.1.tar.gz &&
tar xvf leafpad-0.8.18.1.tar.gz && cd leafpad-0.8.18.1 &&
./configure && make &&
sudo checkinstall -D --install=yes --fstrans=no --pakdir "$HOME/leafpad_build"
--pkgname leafpad --backup=no --deldoc=yes --deldesc=yes --delspec=yes
--default --pkgversion "0.8.18.1" &&
make distclean && sudo ldconfig
If you like afterwards you can delete the build directory $HOME/leafpad_build or you can keep it as is to recompile at a later stage.
Obligatory screenshot...
Below is a screenshot demonstrating a successful build of Leafpad on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa:
And I hope this has made at least a few Leafpad users a little happier :)
References:
