My problem with this is that it does not integrate Electrum into the Debian shell handlers, so that
1) the program does not update automatically when new versions are released, and
2) it cannot be removed [program and user files] if a problem arises and that's necessary.
The jesse PPA is woefully outdated (version 1.9.8-4) and with noted problems, as well.
Ubuntu and other Debian variants of Linux are by far its most ubiquitous platforms. It seems to me they deserve an install/update mechanism that fully works for them.
Please read the third paragraph of my post above as well. Updating is easy with pip. Unless someone volunteers to maintain a newer version of electrum for ubuntu or debian installing from the electrum website is the best way forward IMO.
Debian repos are not ppa. Those are personal package archives created by ubuntu users for that distro. They may or may not be trustworthy. Debian repos are maintained by debian developers and thoroughly tested by users around the world. As a result they tend to be older versions because all that takes time.