Installing Software releases newer than those shown by Synaptic / Software Center

There are two options here

The first option is to request Ubuntu do an update by filling a bug, the second is to update it your self.

1. To request an update you must know the package name and you can go here

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu

or in a terminal enter

ubuntu-bug foo

replacing foo with the package name.

Tell us that there is an update, where to get it if you know, what the update does. This will let the developers know that a not only is an update available but at least one user wants it. Note: there are only a limited number of people dealing with these requests so you need to be patient. In general security problems are fixed before other bugs and feature improvements last. However, we also take into account the number of people wanting the change. The best thing about this approach is that everything is checked on Ubuntu first so there should be no problems.

2. If you can't wait then you can install it your self. The bad news here is that it wont have been checked by the Ubuntu community to that (a) It contains no malicious code and (b) there are no problems on Ubuntu. It's up to you to decide if you trust the source or not.

If you do they may have a ppa which is the easiest way to install, if not look for a deb (debian/Ubuntu package).

If you can't find either of these you may be able to install from source and finally but only if none of the other methods are available you may be able to use an rpm.

I have put these in this order because the first is the easiest, the second is a bit more difficult but not too bad, installing from source requires some technical knowledge and using an rpm is the most difficult (I have never done the last one).

You can also wait until Ubuntu 12.10 is released in about two weeks, or try the recent beta version.
As you see when you click on "Overview" above, the new version will also contain an update for MonoDevelop.

@Thomas: Of course I can follow your hints (some of them, at least).

However, upgrading the whole system is not always (if ever) the best soultion to get the latest version of a single package.

I have been lingering with the idea of resorting to ppa's. Once MonoDevelop people consider a given release as "stable", even if it doesn't mean it can't give you poblems on your current o.s. version, the source is somehow trustable enough to take the risk.

On the other hand, this is just a particular case of a more general one: being able to upgrade asingle package without affecting the whole install, and doing so in a somehow automatic way. ppa's have nothing of automatic, even if they're not that difficult to use.

Last, but not least: Upgrading should never be this high on the list of options. Even if it is considered safe and reliable, you have to do so many changes and in so many places of the system that the risk of having bad consequences in the long term is way too high. When the system is under your eyes, you may fix this or that and keep everything running. When the system is in the field, out of reach, I would never upgrade it without having a backup system I can resort if in problems.

Thanks a lot for your help anyway.

Can you give the output of:

lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

If it's in 12.10 as suggested above by Thomas.

Then you should be able to install it from the deb file. Once 12.10 is officially released you will be able to find all the packages here

http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Don't forget to check the dependencies just in case anything else needs updating to use it.

Just checked in 12.04 (Precise) Version is 2.10.8.1-1ubuntu2.2
In 12.10 (Quantal) beta it's 2.10.8.1-5ubuntu1

So upgrading from Ubuntu (either package deb or full OS) won't give you the latest which is 3.0.4

Ignore my last post (looking at wrong package) see here

http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/devel/monodevelop

Quantal has 3.0.3.2 Not the latest but much closer