Install jq JSON processor on Ubuntu 10.04

Question

Is there a way to install jq JSON processor on Ubuntu 10.04?

I Tried the usual sudo apt-get install jq but got the error E: Couldn't find package jq

Answer 1

It is possible to perform sudo apt-get install jq however you need to inform the system where to find jq.

ℹ️ Note: Ubuntu 14+ users can skip to step 3! 🎉

Install

1. Open your sources file in a text editor:

    sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list 

2. Add the following line to the end of that file (note deb is not a command, more info):

   deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu vivid main universe

3. Then re-index apt-get so that it can find jq:

    sudo apt-get update 

4. Then do the normal install and you should be the proud new user of jq!

    sudo apt-get install jq 

Test

Test it works! Try this to see it pretty print some example json

echo '{ "name":"John", "age":31, "city":"New York" }' | jq . 

The result should appear like so in your terminal:

{   "name": "John",   "age": 31,   "city": "New York" } 

Answer 2

Since Ubuntu 16.04LTS xenial you do not need to modify /etc/apt/sources.list, just run

sudo apt-get install jq 

jq 1.5 is in the official Debian and Ubuntu repositories.