How to make sure apt-get has the latest version of Software

Question

How to make sure apt-get has the latest version of application or software; I tried installing monit but the latest version that I got was 1.5 from apt-get but the site http://mmonit.com/monit/ has totally different version ie., Monit 5.2.5.

 sudo apt-cache search monit
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install monit  << gives 1.5 version 

Do I need to add the latest ppa/deb in apt-add-repository before installing. Also where to find the latest for example in this case monit.

Answer 1

First: Monit version in Natty repositories is 1:5.2.1-1 (so not so old).

apt-get installs packages from Ubuntu repositories. After a release, the version of all packages remain constant (except security updates). More info: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates

If you want newest applications, you can:

• use backports -- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports (only some packages/programs)
• find a PPA with newer version (if exists)
• find another Ubuntu/Debian repository/packages -- some developers make their own packages/repositories for Ubuntu with newest versions of their software
• download source and compile new version yourself -- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompilingEasyHowTo