softwarepropertiesgtk

softwarepropertiesgtk is the GTK-based graphical frontend to the software-properties framework used on Debian-based Linux distributions such as Ubuntu to manage APT software sources. It provides a graphical user interface for adding, editing, and removing software repositories, enabling or disabling sources, and handling repository components (such as main, universe, restricted, and multiverse) while managing authentication keys. The tool updates the system’s sources.list and sources.list.d entries through the underlying APT system.

In Ubuntu, softwarepropertiesgtk is packaged as software-properties-gtk and is integrated into the Software & Updates tool. Users can employ it to add Personal Package Archives (PPAs), enable third-party repositories, and adjust source management through a GUI instead of editing sources files manually. It functions as the graphical wrapper around the software-properties backend, including the add-apt-repository workflow.

Technical notes: softwarepropertiesgtk is typically built forGNOME/GTK environments and uses Python with the PyGObject bindings. It communicates with the APT library to read current sources, modify them, and trigger package data refreshes. The project is maintained as part of Canonical’s Ubuntu software-properties ecosystem with contributions from the wider community.

See also: apt, PPAs, Additional Drivers, Software & Updates. The tool serves as the graphical counterpart to command line utilities such as apt-add-repository and related back-end components that manage APT sources and package updates.