Switching between dev and beta Chrome channels on Linux

by on August 21, 2010 in Chrome, Linux/Ubuntu

If you’re on Linux (say Ubuntu 10.04, also known as Lucid Lynx), you can switch between the developer (dev) and beta channels of Chrome like this:

Switch from Beta to Dev:
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-unstable

Switch from Dev to Beta:
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-beta

That’s easier for me than going back for the .deb file and doing something with it.

Also, if you want to check whether a new dev version of Chrome is out, you can just repeat the same command:
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-unstable

and if there’s no new version, you’ll get something like this back:

Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
google-chrome-unstable is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

I figured I’d document this in case I needed to remember how to do it in the future. 🙂

12 Responses to Switching between dev and beta Chrome channels on Linux (Leave a comment)

  1. NG August 21, 2010 at 11:32 am

    Only Linux?!?! Who’s up for a good operating system argument/smackdown?

  2. Jamie August 21, 2010 at 11:33 am

    Instead of checking for the latest dev build by using the install command you could always just do a general system update which would pick it up anyway. Saves having to remember the commands. Or, wait for the automated system updater to install it (if you have it configured).

  3. Rakesh Tulsiani August 21, 2010 at 11:35 am

    Smart !! 🙂

  4. Nikolaos Dimopoulos August 21, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    The above of course assumes that you already have Google Chrome installed (http://www.google.com/chrome). If you have not, then the sources will not be available and therefore you won’t be able to switch between versions.

  5. Hedaru August 22, 2010 at 2:04 am

    Sweet! Someone should make a Chrome Channel Changer in Linux.

  6. Shawn McConnell August 23, 2010 at 7:35 am

    Awesome, this will help out, I too will bookmark the post for future reference

  7. Angel Demirev August 26, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    Why isn’t there a GUI switching system for Windows for the Dev/Regular?

  8. Christian Koch September 2, 2010 at 4:56 am

    Awesome, now you can delete that thing from the list what a man should do in his life 🙂 Congrats!

  9. Brian September 7, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    I prefer to use

    sudo aptitude install google-chrome-unstable

    I’ve been using it so long that it’s purely a habit by now, but IIRC it has better dependency management than apt-get.

  10. Şuayip September 15, 2010 at 4:40 am

    Sweet! Someone should make a Chrome Channel Changer in Linux.

  11. Michael D. Healy December 14, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    Matt:
    Bookmarked this after the recent Unstable update broke scrolling up with the mouse wheel!
    Şuayip:
    A Chome channel changer sounded like such a good idea I wrote a simple bash script to get it done.
    Thanks!
    Michael D. Healy

  12. Rob Morgan June 2, 2011 at 6:53 am

    Is it possible to make a Chrome Channel Changer in Linux? or was that comment just an impossible wish?

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