Is it not possible to do a repository install for Squeak in Ubuntu derivatives anymore, independent from Scratch?

Question

I noticed there is a squeak-vm in the repositories from Linux Mint 20.1 /Ubuntu 20.04, and so I tried to install it, to see how much of the knowledge I'm acquiring in a Pharo course is transferable to Squeak:

user@user-Standard:~$ apt-cache search squeak
squeak-plugins-scratch - Squeak plugins for the Scratch programming environment
squeak-plugins-scratch-dbg - Squeak plugins for the Scratch programming environment - debug
squeak-vm - virtual machine for Smalltalk
etoys - media-rich model, simulation construction kit and authoring tool
etoys-doc - documentation for Etoys
user@user-Standard:~$ sudo apt install squeak-vm
Lendo listas de pacotes... Pronto
Construindo árvore de dependências       
Lendo informação de estado... Pronto
The following additional packages will be installed:
  scratch
Os NOVOS pacotes a seguir serão instalados:
  scratch squeak-vm
0 pacotes atualizados, 2 pacotes novos instalados, 0 a serem removidos e 8 não atualizados.
É preciso baixar 25,6 MB de arquivos.
Depois desta operação, 48,8 MB adicionais de espaço em disco serão usados.
Você quer continuar? [S/n] S
Obter:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 squeak-vm amd64 1:4.10.2.2614-8build1 [510 kB]
Obter:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 scratch all 1.4.0.6~dfsg1-6 [25,1 MB]
Baixados 25,6 MB em 15s (1.660 kB/s)                                           
A seleccionar pacote anteriormente não seleccionado squeak-vm.
(Lendo banco de dados ... 316417 ficheiros e directórios actualmente instalados.
)
A preparar para desempacotar .../squeak-vm_1%3a4.10.2.2614-8build1_amd64.deb ...
A descompactar squeak-vm (1:4.10.2.2614-8build1) ...
A seleccionar pacote anteriormente não seleccionado scratch.
A preparar para desempacotar .../scratch_1.4.0.6~dfsg1-6_all.deb ...
A descompactar scratch (1.4.0.6~dfsg1-6) ...
Configurando squeak-vm (1:4.10.2.2614-8build1) ...
Configurando scratch (1.4.0.6~dfsg1-6) ...
A processar 'triggers' para gnome-menus (3.36.0-1ubuntu1) ...
A processar 'triggers' para man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
A processar 'triggers' para gnome-icon-theme (3.12.0-3) ...
A processar 'triggers' para shared-mime-info (1.15-1) ...
A processar 'triggers' para desktop-file-utils (0.24+linuxmint1) ...
A processar 'triggers' para mime-support (3.64ubuntu1) ...
A processar 'triggers' para hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...

Now the curious thing is that it installs Scratch as well, even if I just requested Squeak.

When I look into the menu, it shows both Squeak and Scratch:

When I choose Squeak, a empty image selection screen is shown:

If I click the empty selection, nothing happens. It appears the squeak-vm is only a dependency for Scratch, and it's not possible to install it from the repository as a independent environment anymore. Am I right, or did I just do something wrong in the install process?

Answer 1

Part of the problem here is that the debian package (and since Ubuntu is derived from Debian as best I recall, I infer the Ubuntu package has the same issues) was created a long time ago and ... pretty much abandoned. Right now I believe it installs a vm built from the old-style interpreter sources, not the modern dynamic translator system.

We (the Squeak community) are working on improving this.

In the meantime it is much better to download packages from www.squeak.org

Answer 2

I have downloaded the current release of squeak and edited the app location, squeak.sh; that worked out.