Is there a way to undo software updates?

I recently* updated my installation of Google Chrome. This turns out to have been a mistake - apparently the latest version (41) is very unstable when using developer tools. Since I'm a web developer, this is unacceptable.

The thing is, I haven't restarted Chrome since I updated it, so I'm still running version 40. Is there any way to roll back the software update before I am required to restart Chrome?

*Not sure exactly how long ago; may not have been all that recent.

Solution 1:

If you want to keep- or revert to an older version of your software, the most convenient way is to use Synaptic Package manager:

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Once installed, open Synaptic, look up Google Chrome, select it and choose from the menu: "Package" > "Properties", choose the "Versions" tab. Here you can see what versions are available. In my case, that is only the version you do not want (since I run 14.04, If I remember well you run 12.04):

In your case, the earlier version will be listed as well, I will use the example on Firefox here to show how to return to an earlier version:

• Select your package form the list
• Choose from the menu: "Package" > "Force Version"

• Choose your preferred version:

  

  Apply the changes

• To make sure the package will not be updated, choose from the menu: "Package" > "Lock version":

  

More information on how to keep- or revert to previous packages can be found here.