Weblog entry #1 for borepstein
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#1
Installing .deb packages from repositories
Posted by borepstein on Mon 23 Jul 2007 at 22:12
Sorry about asking a dumb question - but I am a total newbie when it comes to Debian as I've only dealth with RPM-based distributions before. So now my question is - how do I operate Debian repositories?
Thanks.
Boris.
Thanks.
Boris.
Comments on this Entry
The important steps:
1. the file /etc/apt/sources.list has the configuration for repositories. See sources.list (5)
2. The low level package management software is named dpkg (same as rpm). You rarely will use it.
3. There are 2 high level package managers (who handle dependencies etc etc etc):
3.1 apt-get: The traditional but limited one.
3.2 aptitude: curses based and very very very powerful.
I recommend spending some time learning how to operate aptitude (there is an online html manual). It will save you lots of time in the future.
If you like gui tools, check out a package named synaptic. Limited but has a nice user interface.
PS: See http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ for some extra packages
1. the file /etc/apt/sources.list has the configuration for repositories. See sources.list (5)
2. The low level package management software is named dpkg (same as rpm). You rarely will use it.
3. There are 2 high level package managers (who handle dependencies etc etc etc):
3.1 apt-get: The traditional but limited one.
3.2 aptitude: curses based and very very very powerful.
I recommend spending some time learning how to operate aptitude (there is an online html manual). It will save you lots of time in the future.
If you like gui tools, check out a package named synaptic. Limited but has a nice user interface.
PS: See http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ for some extra packages
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Thanks, this was very helpful.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Welcome to Debian.
If Debian was installed with sensible settings you should have valid sources.list, with the security repositories in. So all you do is "apt-get update ; apt-get install ...." or similar with aptitude or synaptic.
Strongly recommend you give the "Debian reference" a glance over, at debian.org, under documentation, and install one of the routine updating tools like cron-apt or apticron to get your security updates daily.
Simon
If Debian was installed with sensible settings you should have valid sources.list, with the security repositories in. So all you do is "apt-get update ; apt-get install ...." or similar with aptitude or synaptic.
Strongly recommend you give the "Debian reference" a glance over, at debian.org, under documentation, and install one of the routine updating tools like cron-apt or apticron to get your security updates daily.
Simon
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Do you want to use an existing repository or create your own?
If you want to use a standard existing repository, I'd recommend reading up on aptitude. It can be used via a text curses interface or via a command line and scriptable interface. There is the older apt-get tool which I wouldn't bother with.
dpkg isn't a tool you're not going to use much, BUT when things go wrong or you need to do odd things (e.g. directly installing a deb) you may need to use it.
If you are a real command-line-phobe there is also a couple of graphical interfaces, one for GNOME and one for KDE. Synaptic is the more popular I believe, but it's not something I use so I can't comment.
If you want to set up your own repository there are some links on this site that may help:
http://www.debian-administration.org/tag/apt%20repositories
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
If you want to use a standard existing repository, I'd recommend reading up on aptitude. It can be used via a text curses interface or via a command line and scriptable interface. There is the older apt-get tool which I wouldn't bother with.
dpkg isn't a tool you're not going to use much, BUT when things go wrong or you need to do odd things (e.g. directly installing a deb) you may need to use it.
If you are a real command-line-phobe there is also a couple of graphical interfaces, one for GNOME and one for KDE. Synaptic is the more popular I believe, but it's not something I use so I can't comment.
If you want to set up your own repository there are some links on this site that may help:
http://www.debian-administration.org/tag/apt%20repositories
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Thanks Adam!
I am not going to make my own repositories just yet...
And no, I don't mind using command line at all - I am quite used to it.
I am not going to make my own repositories just yet...
And no, I don't mind using command line at all - I am quite used to it.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]