Install Quantum GIS on Linux

Installing on Ubuntu [10.04]
  1. enable synaptic to know about the ppa (personal package archive), first read some instructions
  2. you need to find the ppa name as described here: convenient method
  3. use the ppa name: ppa:ubuntugis/ppa
  4. open Terminal and run command: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ppa
  5. expect a result that gets keyserver for ppa which looks like:
    Executing: gpg --ignore-time-conflict --no-options --no-default-keyring --secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg --trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --primary-keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 6B827C12C2D425E227EDCA75089EBE08314DF160
    gpg: requesting key 314DF160 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
    gpg: key 314DF160: public key "Launchpad ubuntugis-stable" imported
    gpg: Total number processed: 1
    gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
  6. now go to System | Admin | Synaptic Package Manager and UPDATE THE PACKAGE LIST to get the new ppa: sudo apt-get update
  7. now you should be able to search for qgis with synaptic and get all the needed packages and dependencies to install

Installing on Debian [5 lenny]
  1. first, add the needed lines to the file sources.list
  2. open a terminal and go to: cd /etc/apt
  3. to be safe backup your file first: cp sources.list sources_BAK.list
  4. change to superuser su - then enter the su password
  5. add the following two lines to the file: vi sources.list
    deb http://qgis.org/debian lenny main
    deb-src http://qgis.org/debian lenny main
  6. now you can get the updates: sudo apt-get update
  7. then you can install qgis: sudo apt-get install qgis
  8. QGIS should be on the menu now under Applications | Science
  9. note! by default Debian might not have the fonts you need!
  10. for Chinese, recommend running the following two commands:
    apt-get install xfonts-intl-chinese xfonts-base unifont
    apt-get install ttf-arphic-bkai00mp ttf-arphic-bsmi00lp
  11. similar steps will get you other fonts. you should be good to go!

Links to other Linux installation guides