There are two ways of getting Sphinx for Ubuntu: regular deb packages and the Launchpad PPA repository.

Deb packages

  1. Sphinx requires a few libraries to be installed on Debian/Ubuntu. Use apt-get to download and install these dependencies:
    $ sudo apt-get install mysql-client unixodbc libpq5
  2. Now you can install Sphinx:
    $ sudo dpkg -i sphinxsearch_2.2.11-dev-0ubuntu12~trusty_amd64.deb

PPA repository (Ubuntu only)

Installing Sphinx is much easier from Sphinxsearch PPA repository, because you will get all dependencies and can also update Sphinx to the latest version with the same command.

  1. First, add Sphinxsearch repository and update the list of packages:
    $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:builds/sphinxsearch-rel22
    $ sudo apt-get update
  2. Install/update sphinxsearch package:
    $ sudo apt-get install sphinxsearch

3. Sphinx searchd daemon can be started/stopped using service command:

$ sudo service sphinxsearch start

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