Tutorials and How-tos/Install Debian Packages

This howto tells you howto install packages from the Debian repositories. Available packages can be found here: http://packages.debian.org/oldstable/

First of all you have to log on to Bubba via ssh and become root.

The standard Debian sources are per default enabled. Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list if you need other sources. You could use nano to do this ie

nano /etc/apt/sources.list 

After editing the sources file you need to tell the package manager that the file have changed:

apt-get update

Now to the installation of packages! For example you want to install python. Use the command apt-get:

apt-get install python

You will be prompted with questions which in most cases could be answered with the yes. If asked for password, just hit enter.

If did edit the sources file, you should always restore the file to its original state. Otherwise future upgrades via the web interface will most likely fail.

All done!

If you want to remove a package:

apt-get remove python

Besides apt-get, there's "apt-cache"  and "dpkg" which have lots of options to search for or show information on packages you have or have not installed.

For example, suppose that you want to reminisce about the good old days of the Atari 2600. You want to use APT to install an Atari emulator, and then download some games. You can do:

apt-cache search atari

Another option is 'show':

apt-cache show mpg123

This shows package information about a package named "mpg123". It will display things such as the package dependancies, the long description, the version, the installed size, etc.

More detailed options can be obtained here: http://www.ccl.net/cca/software/UNIX/updating-redhat/apt-howto/how-to-use-apt-cache.html

Or use this on the command line:

man apt-cache