[Zlib][1] is an open source library for used for data compression.
As an end user, you are likely to encounter the need of installing Zlib (or zlib devel package) as a dependency of another application.
But here comes the problem. If you try installing Zlib on Ubuntu, it will throw “unable to locate package zlib” error.
```
sudo apt install zlib
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package zlib
```
Why do you see this [unable to locate package error][2]? Because there is no package named zlib.
If you [use the apt search command][3], you’ll find that the there are a couple of packages that let you install zlib: **zlib1g and zlib1g-dev**. When you have that information, installing them is just one apt command away.
### Install Zlib on Ubuntu-based Linux distributions
Open a terminal and use the following command:
```
sudo apt install zlib1g
```
_**Please keep in mind that the the letter before g is 1 (one), not lowercase L. Many people make this mistake while typing the command.**_
The other package, zlib1g-dev is development package. Only install it if you require it otherwise you should be good with the main runtime zlib1g package.
```
sudo apt install zlib1g-dev
```
You may also download the source code of Zlib [from its website][1] and install it. However, I won’t recommend going the source code way just for installing zlib unless you have a good reason to do so. For example, if you need the latest or a specific version of zlib which is not available in the distribution’s repository.
It is interesting how a seemingly small stuff like installing zlib could become a pain for two reasons: a different package name and the package name containing a “hidden” numeral one (1) which is confused with lowercase L.
I hope this quick tip helps you. Feel free to drop your questions, suggestions or a simple “thank you” in the comment section.
