How-to install applications

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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ronqual wrote:

The information about installing .deb files is no longer current. On Grup Yorum (antiX-21_x64-full) gdebi is not installed by default, and the default action (at least on the default desktop; I believe it’s Rox-IceWM?) is instead to open it as an archive.

Perhaps you could update it to mention that users are now required to install gdebi themselves (via Synaptic, no less), or suggest that they use dpkg from the command line? Alternatively someone more experienced with antiX can tell me what the suggested route is; it seems strange to me that gdebi was removed.

There is more than one way to install Debian and antiX packages. The fundamental tool is dpkg; the dpkg command, adding the -i option, followed by the name of the package you want to install is a basic, but relatively simple way to install packages.

example:

sudo dpkg -i firefox-99.0b8.deb

We use sudo to switch to “super user”, the priviledged root administrator, dpkg is the fundamental package management tool, we have the (example) firefox-99.0b8.deb package in our current directory, so we specify -i to install the package.

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Brian Masinick

[Member melodie]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

We use sudo to switch to “super user”, the priviledged root administrator

For precise tech details, “sudo” means “do as su” and “su” means “substitute user”, which refers to “subsitude to the root user”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_(Unix) ????

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_(Unix)

First line, and I quote, says:

“The Unix command su, which stands for ‘substitute user’ (originally ‘superuser… , is used by a computer user to execute commands with the privileges of another user account. When executed it invokes a shell without changing the current working directory or the user environment. ”

http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/sudo.8.html

“sudo allows a permitted user to execute a command as the superuser
or another user, as specified by the security policy.”

I’m not making any of this up; these are Web versions of official UNIX/Linux man pages (Wikipedia only *references* or *describes* the capabilities and it is written by “unofficial” sources. I’ll take the man pages; they predate anything in Wikipedia, which are unofficial descriptions, not typically written by the authors of the actual utilities.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Also, from recent Red Hat documentation:

“sudo

sudo, which is an acronym for superuser do or substitute user do, is a command that runs an elevated prompt without a need to change your identity.”

Source: http://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/difference-between-sudo-su

Another reference says:

“The su command allows one to become another user without logging off or to assume a role. The default user name is root (superuser).”

Source: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E88353_01/html/E72487/su-8.htm

So mentioning the “superuser” is NOT inaccurate, spelling it incorrectly as “subsitude to the root user” is in error.

Best to make sure your facts are 100% accurate before correcting someone here!

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Brian Masinick

[Member scruffyeagle]

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ronqual wrote:

The information about installing .deb files is no longer current. On Grup Yorum (antiX-21_x64-full) gdebi is not installed by default, and the default action (at least on the default desktop; I believe it’s Rox-IceWM?) is instead to open it as an archive.

Perhaps you could update it to mention that users are now required to install gdebi themselves (via Synaptic, no less), or suggest that they use dpkg from the command line? Alternatively someone more experienced with antiX can tell me what the suggested route is; it seems strange to me that gdebi was removed.

In his marvelous post, PPC wrote:
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Tip 2: If you have the package ft10-transformation installed in your system, it includes debinstaller, a GUI for the “apt install” command. You can right click any .deb package on zzzfm and select the option Open > Open With > “All apps” Tab – Debinstaller. You can also make this the default application to open .deb files, on a checkbox near the bottom of the window.

P.S.- until version 21 came out, older versions included a GUI application to install .deb packages, called gdebi – but that application sometimes does not work correctly, so it’s safer to use the apt command directly in the terminal”
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I take this to mean that the current recommendation is to use either debinstaller or the apt command in a terminal, and AVOID gdebi.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@scruffyeagle:

Yes, gdebi is no longer recommended for package handling. You are correct.

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Brian Masinick

[Member ModdIt]

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FT10 is great but IMHO the easiest safe way to install
deb or multiple debs is in terminal.
All graphical interfaces are frontends to underlying
apt or dpkg tools.

Enter sudo apt install in terminal
drag package or packages in to the terminal window
the path to package will be automagicaly completed,
press enter, enter password, press enter
confirm install.

[Member PPC]

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There’s a warning that I should have placed in the Original Post, that comes up quite often:

If you are using antiX in Live mode or you are using an antix system that has never been updated you may notice that you can’t install any package from the repository (or install, from the repository, needed dependencies from an off-line .deb package you are trying to install).
This is because, to save resources, antiX does not come, out of the box, with an updated database of all available packages in the repository.
So to be able to install applications using the “apt” command or any of it’s GUI’s (like Synaptic) please update those databases.
You can do this using several methods, here are 2 of the most used, in antiX:

1- From the terminal– Click antiX Menu > Terminal and then run this command:
sudo apt update

If asked to, enter your password. Wait until the process of updating the database of packages available in the repository is finished – NOTE: This will not update any application that you have installed in your system, putting it in layman’s terms, it’s kind of updates the database of the “Store” where antiX goes to check an application is available to be installed or updated.

2- From Synaptic: Click antiX Menu > Control Center > “Software” tab > “Synaptic” > Enter your password if asked to > click the “Reload” button, on the top left of Synaptic’s window (it’s the curved arrow) and wait until the update process finishes.
Same as above, this does not update any of the applications you have installed in your system,
If you wish to search for an application to install, you can then click the “Search” icon, on the top right of the Window (it’s the magnifying glass icon)…

P.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@PPC: Good catch!

Those of us who have been managing our systems for most of our lives sometimes take things like this for granted.

Thank you for your efforts in producing guidelines and tools so that anyone who can read will be able to manage their systems.

I’m thankful for you and for each person who shares in one way or another. It makes this community a helpful and useful contribution to the free software ecosystem.

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Brian Masinick

[Member clementishutin]

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The guide is quite good, thanks.

[Member Empty Handed]

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How i can install an app thats only on sid and testing packages?
edit:Should i just enable the sid or testing repo and just install it?
Then remove the repo?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Empty Handed.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Use the -t, –target-release or –default-release to select which target, that is, stable, testing, or sid.

You may have to change the repository entries too; check the documentation on the man and/or info pages for apt and apt-get.
These should be on our antiX builds; they can also be searched for and read from an Internet browser.
I’ll leave that as a learning exercise.

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Brian Masinick

[Member ile]

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Hello PPC and Everyone
Hello Empty Handed
not appropriate for How-to
” enable the sid or testing repo and just install it?”
You make experiment.

[Member Empty Handed]

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So its recommended not to install it?
-t or -target -release wont show something.

How i do a match and whats i a trial ? Im a begginer .

Could i just install the .deb file?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Empty Handed.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@empty-handed:

The point is to be consistent with the repository you use.

Generally speaking you run either a stable, testing or unstable (Sid) based distribution. Yes, you may put a mix of software on your system but you said you are a beginner. If you get conflicts in library packages it will be difficult to resolve.

If you are still willing to experiment and potentially end up with a mess, that’s OK; you can learn a lot. Just understand that it’s not recommended and you may need to reinstall everything. Make a full system backup. Remaster what you have before you start; that’ll provide you with a great way to reinstall what you have already and it’ll be good practice to learn what a remaster is and it’s not difficult.

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Brian Masinick

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