Unofficial Debian packages
From NewbieDOC
--Chris Lale 10:56, 19 January 2006 (CET)
--Chris Lale 12:41, 5 April 2007 (CEST)
Contents |
1 Third party packages
Many unofficial .debs are available from http://apt-get.org/
2 Backports
Packages in the Testing and Unstable distributions are often unavailable for the Stable distribution. You cannot install the Testing/Unstable packages because of dependency issues.
Packages at http://www.backports.org/ are compiled against libraries in the Stable distribution.
LAMP (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP) packages at http://dotdeb.org/ are compiled against libraries in the Stable distribution.
3 Installing third party packages and backports
3.1 Commandline
Download the .deb file and install from the commandline using dpkg
as user root.
$ su (enter root password) # dpkg -i name-of-package.deb # exit $
Uninstall using the -r switch to remove the package.
$ su (enter root password) # dpkg -r name-of-package.deb # exit $
3.2 Synaptic
If you are using Synaptic in the X Window System, you must add the repository to /etc/apt/sources.list
using
Settings -> Repositories -> New
For example, the instructions at backports.org tell you to add the line
deb http://www.backports.org/debian/ sarge-backports main
In the URI field put
http://www.backports.org/debian/
In the Distribution field put
sarge-backports
In the Section(s) field put
main
4 How to remove backports before Debian upgrade
If you are upgrading to a new version of Debian (eg Sarge -> Etch), you may wish to remove your backported packages first (since they cannot be upgraded).
4.1 Commandline
You can identify backported packages and remove them before upgrading. To find all the currently installed ('~i) packages from backports.org ('~Obackports'), run this search:
$ aptitude search '~i ~Obackports'
Remove the backports.
To find all the currently installed ('~i) packages not ('!') from debian.org ('~!Odebian'), run this search:
$ aptitude search '~i !~Odebian'
This will find all the unofficial packages on your system including locally installed packages.
For more information see Aptitude's command line reference in the README at /usr/share/doc/aptitude/README or /usr/share/doc/aptitude/html/en/rn01.html (Etch).
4.2 Synaptic
Remove backports.org from sources.list. They should all show up as "Installed (local or obsolete)". You can do this within Synaptic:
Settings -> Repositories
View the /etc/sources.list entries in the "Installation media" tab. Disable or highlight and remove the entry for backports.org, then reload the package information.
Installation Media -> [backports channel] -> remove Edit -> Reload Package Information
In the left-hand panel click on the "Status" button and choose "Installed (local or obsolete)"
Status -> Installed (local or obsolete)
Remove the backports.
Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2, unless otherwise stated.