Google has a new release of Google Earth on Aug. 25 2016 which make the installation on Ubuntu so much easier. No more fix and work-around needed! (Thanks Martin posted this great news.)

So I tried it on Ubuntu 16.04.1 and it just works.

For new installation, download the .deb file from Google, then simply run

sudo apt-get install lsb-core

sudo dpkg -i google-earth-stable_current_amd64.deb



If you have the previous version of GE installed, then remove it first:

sudo dpkg -P google-earth-stable

sudo rm -rf /opt/google/earth/free



After this you should get a working Google Earth version 7.1.7.2600

The following is my old post back in April and I keep it here just for references.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) just released last week. I was testing it and had trouble to install Google Earth on it just like previous version of Ubuntu.

My system is 64 bit Ubuntu 16.04. The big problem is Ubuntu missing all the “lsb-*” packages which Google Earth depend on. After few hours trial-and-error, finally I have the Google Earth running normally on my notebook.



UPDATE (July 15 2016)

Today I tried to install Google Earth on a brand new ASUS Zenbook, I hit trouble when I try to install these “lsb-*” packages. After check around I see that Ubuntu now has brought back these packages to its repository. So for the “lsb packages” section below, all I need to do it install “lsb-core” (apt-get install lsb-core).

Here is how to install:

Install dependences

First install these packages:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install libgstreamer0.10-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-dev flashplugin-installer libfreeimage3 libc6:i386



lsb packages

Install lsb-core:

sudo apt-get install lsb-core



Check the “lsb-*” packages:

$ dpkg -l | grep lsb

ii lsb-base 9.20160110ubuntu0.2 all Linux Standard Base init script functionality

ii lsb-core 9.20160110ubuntu0.2 amd64 Linux Standard Base core support package

ii lsb-invalid-mta 9.20160110ubuntu0.2 all Linux Standard Base sendmail dummy

ii lsb-release 9.20160110ubuntu0.2 all Linux Standard Base version reporting utility

ii lsb-security 9.20160110ubuntu0.2 amd64 Linux Standard Base Security package



I have to manually install three lsb packages: lsb-core , lsb-security and lsb-invalid-mta

Download the packages first:

mkdir ~/lsb

cd ~/lsb

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/lsb/lsb-security_4.1+Debian11ubuntu8_amd64.deb

wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/l/lsb/lsb-core_4.1+Debian11ubuntu6_amd64.deb

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/lsb/lsb-invalid-mta_4.1+Debian11ubuntu8_all.deb



Try to insall these packages

sudo dpkg -i *.deb



Here I saw some error output like this:

$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Selecting previously unselected package lsb-core.

(Reading database ... 176877 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack lsb-core_4.1+Debian11ubuntu6_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking lsb-core (4.1+Debian11ubuntu6) ...

Selecting previously unselected package lsb-security.

Preparing to unpack lsb-security_4.1+Debian11ubuntu8_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking lsb-security (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lsb-core:

lsb-core depends on lsb-invalid-mta (>= 4.1+Debian11ubuntu6) | mail-transport-agent; however:

Package lsb-invalid-mta is not installed.

Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.

lsb-core depends on at; however:

Package at is not installed.

lsb-core depends on m4; however:

Package m4 is not installed.

lsb-core depends on mailx | mailutils; however:

Package mailx is not installed.

Package mailutils is not installed.

lsb-core depends on pax; however:

Package pax is not installed.

lsb-core depends on alien (>= 8.36); however:

Package alien is not installed.

lsb-core depends on libc6-i386; however:

Package libc6-i386 is not installed.

lsb-core depends on lib32z1; however:

Package lib32z1 is not installed.



dpkg: error processing package lsb-core (--install):

dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

Setting up lsb-security (4.1+Debian11ubuntu8) ...

Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...

Errors were encountered while processing:

lsb-core



Now let fix this dependences issue by force installation:

sudo apt-get -f install



After this, install the DEB packages again:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb



This time it finished without error.

Install Google Earth:

Download the deb file from Google site https://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html

Pick the 64 bit .deb file.

Then install it:

sudo dpkg -i google-earth-stable_current_amd64.deb



That’s it. Now I can start the Google Earth from my desktop.

Panoramio blank picture

There is a problem: when you try to click on the Panaramio photo, all I got is a blank frame. Don’t worry, let’s fix it:

cd /opt/google/earth/free/

sudo wget https://googledrive.com/host/0B2F__nkihfiNalQzN0ZmcjBPTGs/ge7.1.1.1580-0.x86_64-new-qt-libs-debian7-ubuntu12.tar.xz

sudo tar xvf ge7.1.1.1580-0.x86_64-new-qt-libs-debian7-ubuntu12.tar.xz



Done!

Now I have Goole Earth on Ubuntu 16.04.

I noticed after Google Earth installed on my system, when I try to update my system I got warning message:

W: http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/dists/stable/Release.gpg: Signature by key 4CCA1EAF950CEE4AB83976DCA040830F7FAC5991 uses weak digest algorithm (SHA1)

This is because the Google Earth installer automatically installed and enabled a google-earth repository in the system. The purpose is to automatically update Google Earth if there is a new release. Unfortunately it seems the repository maintainer (Google) uses the weak SHA1 which Ubuntu/Debian abandoned.

So I have two choices here:

Ignore this message. It won’t affect other update or installation. And it may let you update Google Earth in the future. Disable the google-earth repository. You won’t able to update Google Earth automatically after this. To disable it, excute this command: sed -e 's/^deb/#deb/' -i /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth.list



Here I chose Option 2 for now.