Install guide · Ubuntu 22.04 (jammy)printed 27 Oct 2026, 14:13 UTC

Install Prometheus 3.15 on Ubuntu 22.04

Ubuntu 22.04 ships Prometheus 2.31.2. The current release is 3.15.1. freshdeb builds it for jammy 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 22.04 ships: 2.31.22.31.2+ds1-1ubuntu1.22.04.3
main: 3.15.1follows every upstream release, minors and majors included. Currently 3.15.1.
lts: 3.13.5stays on 3.13.x, patch releases only, until it moves to a newer line. Currently 3.13.5.
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 jammy

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

main follows every upstream release, minors and majors included. Currently 3.15.1. Other components: lts, listed with the versions.

3Install

sudo apt update && sudo apt install prometheus
apt policy prometheus   # expect 3.15.1-1+freshdeb~ubuntu22.04

Already on Ubuntu 22.04's Prometheus? The same command upgrades it: the freshdeb version sorts higher. What's different from Debian's package.

Upgrading from Prometheus 2.31.2

What changed between Ubuntu 22.04's 2.31.2 and 3.15.1 that you may notice. Configuration and data stay where Debian put them.

Since 3.0: Prometheus 3 reads the data Prometheus 2 wrote, and Debian's default configuration works unchanged. Some flags, configuration settings and PromQL behaviours were removed or changed: if you set flags in ARGS in /etc/default/prometheus, changed the configuration or depend on particular queries, check them against the migration guide first.

Going back to 2.31.2

Delete /etc/apt/sources.list.d/freshdeb-prometheus.sources, run sudo apt update, then sudo apt install prometheus=2.31.2+ds1-1ubuntu1.22.04.3: apt asks before it downgrades. Name the other prometheus packages you installed with their Ubuntu 22.04 version too. Not once Prometheus 3 has written data: only Prometheus 2.55 or newer reads it, and no distribution ships one. Copy /var/lib/prometheus/metrics2 aside before the upgrade if you want the way back.

Why a package

Upstream's release tarball and container image are the same build. As a package, Prometheus runs under Debian's systemd unit as the prometheus user, reads /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml, keeps its data in /var/lib/prometheus/metrics2, and updates with apt upgrade. lts stays on the long-term support release.

Prometheus elsewhere

prometheus: every release line, its contents and origin