unable to install on ubuntu 25.10

[ttambow]

Summary

this happens:

thomas@sterling:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maveonair/helix-editor
Repository: 'Types: deb
URIs: https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu/
Suites: questing
Components: main
'
Description:
A post-modern text editor.

The source code used to build the package can be found here: https://github.com/maveonair/helix-ppa.
More info: https://launchpad.net/~maveonair/+archive/ubuntu/helix-editor
Adding repository.
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel.
Found existing deb entry in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/maveonair-ubuntu-helix-editor-questing.sources
Hit:1 https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/ubuntu questing InRelease
Hit:2 https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/ubuntu questing-updates InRelease
Hit:3 https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/ubuntu questing-backports InRelease
Hit:4 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease
Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu questing-security InRelease
Hit:6 https://twilio-cli-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/apt InRelease
Hit:7 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/linrunner/tlp/ubuntu questing InRelease
Ign:8 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu questing InRelease
Err:9 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu questing Release
404 Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.80 443]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu questing Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
thomas@sterling:~$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/ubuntu questing InRelease
Hit:2 https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/ubuntu questing-updates InRelease
Hit:3 https://mirror.fsmg.org.nz/ubuntu questing-backports InRelease
Hit:4 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease
Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu questing-security InRelease
Hit:6 https://twilio-cli-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/apt InRelease
Hit:7 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/linrunner/tlp/ubuntu questing InRelease
Ign:8 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu questing InRelease
Err:9 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu questing Release
404 Not Found [IP: 185.125.190.80 443]
Error: The repository 'https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/maveonair/helix-editor/ubuntu questing Release' does not have a Release file.
Notice: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
Notice: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

Reproduction Steps

I tried this:

1. literally your install instructions:
   Ubuntu (PPA)

Add the PPA for Helix:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maveonair/helix-editor
sudo apt update
sudo apt install helix

I expected this to happen: it to install lmao

Instead, this happened: it didnt install lmao

Helix log

not applicable

Platform

linux

Terminal Emulator

irrelevant

Installation Method

ppa

Helix Version

irrelevant

[Dheebz]

Thanks for reporting this and for the detailed error output.

This issue appears to be caused by the fact that the Ubuntu PPA referenced in the Helix documentation is no longer maintained, rather than a problem with Helix itself.

The PPA (ppa:maveonair/helix-editor) is backed by the repository
https://github.com/maveonair/helix-ppa, which was archived in August 2025 and is now read-only. As a result, it does not provide packages for newer Ubuntu releases such as 25.10 (Questing), which leads to the 404 ... does not have a Release file error during apt update.

The archived repository’s README explicitly states:

This project is no longer maintained, please use the Snap installation method:
https://docs.helix-editor.com/package-managers.html#snap

Given this, the recommended installation method for Ubuntu (including 25.10) is currently Snap:

sudo snap install helix --classic

Docs update suggestion

To avoid further confusion, the Helix installation documentation should be updated to:

• Remove the PPA instructions entirely, or
• Clearly mark the PPA as deprecated/unmaintained, and
• Point users toward supported alternatives such as Snap, Flatpak, AppImage, or official binaries

Update following looking into the docs.

The mismatch between the documentation website and the repository is due to timing.
The PPA instructions were removed in commit e0544d01 on August 15, 2025, shortly after the PPA was archived.

However, the last release was on July 19, 2025, and the documentation website is built from release tags. Since there hasn't been a release since the fix was merged, the live website still shows the outdated PPA instructions.

The fix is already in master and will appear on the docs website with the next release.

[the-mikedavis]

We don't have a policy on LLM-generated issues/comments/PRs but the more of this I see the more I think we need one. It's fine for investigating but pasting raw LLM output seems slop-py to me. I appreciate you trying to help out another user, on the other hand.

[Dheebz]

Hi Mike. I agree that having a policy around LLM-generated issues, comments and PR's. I want to clarify though that the investigation was done ripping through the git logs, going to maveonairs repo, before realising that the website is being built off the docs directory. Additionally the response wasn't done with the use of a LLM.

[Dheebz]

In regards to the actual issue is it not possible to have the docs being deployed to the website following an update to the main branch, docs folder? This seems like the best method to actually ensure that the documentation is at the most corrent version and allows for easy updates without being ependant on releases?

[the-mikedavis]

Additionally the response wasn't done with the use of a LLM.

The entire comment or the edit (the "Update following looking into the docs" section)? I'd have a hard time believing anyone would spend the time on the markup, i.e. the bold and lists that LLMs seem to love. Certainly I can't prove you wrong but I'd be hard pressed to believe it.

W.r.t. docs site versions, see #1607, #1783. Always releasing the documentation means that features are shown before the next release and that's similarly confusing. Other projects approach this by maintaining separate directories or branches for different release lines, and manually or automatically cherry-picking changes between them. It would be nicer but also more complex and more maintenance overhead.

[Dheebz]

Ok so the approach with helix is the documentation is a contract tied with the tagged release version.

[the-mikedavis]

Helix is packaged by Debian so you can install without the PPA now, see #14237, https://docs.helix-editor.com/master/package-managers.html#debian. That PPA is deprecated so for newer versions you should either use the official Debian package or the deb from the releases page.