Install nano 9.3 on Ubuntu 26.04

Ubuntu 26.04 ships nano 8.7.1. The current release is 9.3. freshdeb builds it for resolute from upstream's release with Debian's packaging, so it replaces the distribution's package in place and updates with apt upgrade like the rest of the system.

Ubuntu 26.04 ships: 8.7.18.7.1-1ubuntu0.1
main: 9.3follows every upstream release, minors and majors included. Currently 9.3.
Built for: amd64 and arm64, natively

1Trust the signing key (once per machine)

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.freshdeb.com/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null

Fingerprint 3BBD F03A 9C0B F890 F8CA 9510 7595 CC55 468F 3161. How to verify.

2Add the source for resolute

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/freshdeb-nano.sources >/dev/null <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://deb.freshdeb.com/nano
Suites: resolute
Components: main
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/freshdeb-archive-keyring.gpg
EOF

3Install

sudo apt update && sudo apt install nano
apt policy nano   # expect 9.3-1+freshdeb~ubuntu26.04

Already on Ubuntu 26.04's nano? The same command upgrades it: the freshdeb version sorts higher. What's different from Debian's package.

Upgrading from nano 8.7.1

What changed between Ubuntu 26.04's 8.7.1 and 9.3 that you may notice. Configuration and data stay where Debian put them.

Since 9.0: M-< and M-> no longer switch between open files (bind M-< prevbuf main and bind M-> nextbuf main bring that back), the ^T toggle between WhereIs and GotoLine is gone, and files in old Mac format, with a lone carriage return per line, are no longer read or written as such.
Also: The package's NEWS entry lists the same, and apt-listchanges shows it during the upgrade.

Going back to 8.7.1

Delete /etc/apt/sources.list.d/freshdeb-nano.sources, run sudo apt update, then sudo apt install nano=8.7.1-1ubuntu0.1: apt asks before it downgrades. Name the other nano packages you installed with their Ubuntu 26.04 version too.

nano elsewhere

nano: every release line, its contents and origin