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As you probably know, the official Cinnamon Stable PPA was closed not so long ago, leaving Ubuntu users who want to use Cinnamon with three choices: build the packages from source, use the Cinnamon Nightly PPA or switch to Linux Mint.

Cinnamon 2.2.13
Cinnamon in Ubuntu 14.04

To make Cinnamon easier to install for Ubuntu users, a couple of new stable Cinnamon PPAs were created. The new PPAs aren't official but I've been following them for a while / tested them and I didn't encounter any issues, so I though I'd share them with you.

Before using these PPAs, please read the following notes:
  • if you're currently using Nemo with Unity patches from the WebUpd8 Nemo PPA or some other PPA which copies my modifications (and even if the PPA is enabled but you've removed Nemo), purge the PPA ("sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:webupd8team/nemo") before adding any Cinnamon PPA;
  • don't add any Cinnamon PPAs if you're using Linux Mint!


Install Cinnamon stable in Ubuntu via PPA


Cinnamon 2.2.13

If you use Ubuntu 12.04, use the second (B) PPA below. For Ubuntu 14.04, you can use any of the two PPAs below.

A. Install Cinnamon in Ubuntu by using Lester Carballo Pérez's PPA (Ubuntu 14.04 only).

Lester Carballo Pérez's PPA offers stable Cinnamon builds for Ubuntu 14.04 only. To add the PPA and install Cinnamon stable (version 2.4.5 at the time I'm writing this article; the PPA also provides all the required packages: cinnamon, cinnamon-screensaver, nemo, various nemo extensions, etc.) in Ubuntu 14.04, copy/paste the following commands in a terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lestcape/cinnamon
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

B. Install Cinnamon in Ubuntu by using Tsvetko's PPA (Ubuntu 14.04 and 12.04 only!)

Tsvetko's stable Cinnamon PPA provides the latest Cinnamon for Ubuntu 14.04 (2.4.5) and Cinnamon 2.0.14 for Ubuntu 12.04 (that's because newer Cinnamon versions don't work in Ubuntu 12.04) as well as all the required packages like Nemo, cinnamon-screensaver, etc. To add the PPA and install Cinnamon stable in Ubuntu 14.04 or 12.04, copy/paste the commands below:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tsvetko.tsvetkov/cinnamon
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Once installed, log out, select Cinnamon from the login screen session menu and log in. That's it.


How to completely remove Cinnamon


If for some reason you no longer want to use Cinnamon (which you've previously installed by using the PPAs above) and you want to completely remove it, follow the instructions below.

Regardless of what PPA you've used, completely remove Cinnamon and all its dependencies (Nemo, etc.) using the following command:
sudo apt-get purge cinnamon* nemo-* cjs muffin* python-nemo
(you can also use just "sudo apt-get purge cinnamon* nemo*" but that might also remove some Unity packages, etc., so it's safer to use my command above)

You may also want to remove the PPA:

A. If you've used Lester Carballo Pérez's PPA, remove it and update the software sources using the following commands:
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lestcape-cinnamon*.list
sudo apt-get update

B. If you've used Tsvetko's PPA, remove the PPA and update the software sources using the commands below:
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tsvetko_tsvetkov-cinnamon*.list
sudo apt-get update