find and check compatibility of packages?

[hajones]

Hi I'm following a tutorial on how to install sapi5 for linux. It is 6 month old with apt (probably Ubuntu) so I do not think it is outdated and I think it would be applicable to my distro since it is based on Ubuntu 18.04.
https://gist.github.com/icaromagalha...e848c2a874d68a
I added the ppa: sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ethanak/milena
sudo apt-get update
I tried to install:
sudo apt-get install -y sapi4linux python-pyspda python-sapilektor libsapilektor-utils

E: Unable to locate package sapi4linux
E: Unable to locate package python-pyspda
E: Unable to locate package python-sapilektor

Using Y PPA Manager I could not locate the packages above.
Y PPA Manager has a search function that looks at the packages at launchpad and determines what packages are compatible to your distro and gives the search result with only those compatible. I think that the packages above are compatible but I do not know how to check it and If I can just try to install them any way. How can I check it?
Also I do not know how to get the right packages (or any packages for that matter) with highest lightly-hood of being compatible. I would like to get help on that one as well.
looking at the ppa description on launchpad:
https://launchpad.net/~ethanak/+archive/ubuntu/milena
I can find them.

My os KDE-neon 5.18 based on ubuntu 18.04 bionic.

 

[sp331yi]

IMHO, anything from Microsoft does not play well with Linux. I am not surprised,
Truly sorry, but suggest try something different and GNU/Linux open source.

 

[Vrai]

Did you follow the directions exactly as indicated on the relevant github page?

I don't know about 'checking compatibility' other than build it from source and install all required dependencies or obtain a package which is already suitably built for the underlying distro.
Or performing a search to see if anyone else has successfully installed a certain package/software.

 

[hajones]

Yes I did. If I build it from the source can it be adapted to bionic even if the tutorial was made for earlier ubuntu versions?

 

[jglen490]

Did you run the shell script noted in the github page?

It's probably looking for some package that is no longer available due to that earlier Ubuntu version being EOL.

 

[hajones]

No. I executed the lines one by one. Yes I thought it would be for an earlier version. But is it problematic to install a package made for an earlier version of ubuntu?
Can I adapt the packages to bionic if I build from source?
Do you mean that the packages and source would been removed from launchpad due to EOL?

 

[jglen490]

If you build from source and build against what you currently have, then of course it might work. The packages from the EOL versions of Ubuntu have been removed from the older version repos, which is where apt looks. If the current repos have that updated software then calling for those packages from the current Bionic repos "might" work. No guarantees.

 

[JasKinasis]

If you added the ppa and there are no packages available, then I imagine it means their launchpad/ppa doesn't have a build available for bionic.
It could be that their automated build is failing - or it could be that they simply don't have any builds set up for bionic.

I just took a look at the ppa and filtered the packages available for bionic and it confirms that there are no builds available....
See attached image:

 

[hajones]

Thanks for all the input.
One general question remains though.
When a package is not made for your current version of ubuntu say bionic but for the one before. Will I be able to install it and it might work? Or is the difference between versions to great? (perhaps that was what jglen490 said, that it might work. sorry I did not understand your answer totally).