How do i install a .deb package

[jakedahn]

i am a newb to knoppix and i need to know how to install a .deb package

thank you

[fingers99]

First, note that you can only install a .deb package if you have a HD install, otherwise you'll have to use Klik (Kmenu>Knoppix>Utilities>install software).

Installing single deb packages really isn't the way to go.

Connect to the internet

As root (su to root) do:

apt-get update && apt-get install (name of package)

this will both get the package you want and sort out dependencies. There's a good graphical front end to this called synaptic.

There's a good guide to apt-get at the head of one of these forums.

Otherwise, you may as well use Kpackage or dpkg.

[CrashedAgain]

Here's a brief overview of installing packages in a Debian based system:

Actual package installation is done by dpkg. This is a text based application. For an already downloaded package you could do 'dpkg -i <path & package name>. But this may fail because there may be dependencies which dpkg does not know how to find and has not been told to install.

So the next level is apt-get which will search the net for the packages it needs (including dependency packages), download and install them. It uses dpkg to do the actual install and maintains a file called /etc/apt/sources.list to know where to search for packages. This file must be updated regularly as packages get moved around in the internet repositories. This is done with the command 'apt-get update'.

But to use apt-get you must know what packages are available, so you will need a 'package browser list.

The most basic of these is dselect, which is text based and not overly user friendly. It also maintains a package available database file which must be updated regularly with 'dselect update'. I've been told that dselect update will update both the dselect database and the apt-get sources.list so it is preferable to use this instead of the 'apt-get update' command which only updates sources.list.

More user friendly alternatives for seaching for packages are the gui based applications Kpackage and Synaptic. Both of these provide information on the packages available and can download and install the package.

Dselect, Kpackage and Synaptic all use apt-get to do the actual downloading & installing.

Debian based systems must use either Debian packages or applications compiled from source. To install an RPM package, first convert it to a .deb using 'alien'.
ie: alien -d <rpm packagename>

So, for an already download package, you can try dpkg -i <package> but be prepared for dependency problems which you will have to solve yourself by manually tacking down and installing any required dependencies.

Better way is to use apt-get & let it redo the download:

First, you must become 'root'. Permissions are a big thing in Linux, only root (administrator level permissions) is allowed to install things. So, type 'su' to become root. Then do 'dselect update'. Usually the first time it is run it will need to download quite a bit & some of the downloads may fail. If this happens, just run the command again, eventually it will get all the data it needs.

then 'apt-get install <package>'. It should download the application & all required dependencies & install the application.

Selecting <package> from Kpackage & following the install procedure (check mark & install marked, etc) should do the same thing. But you do have to 'dselect update' first. Kpackage is going to ask you for a root password so you will have to set one before you run it. Open a terminal & type 'sudo passwd', then enter your new root password.

For more detailed information on the commands avaiable for apt-get & dpkg type 'man apt-get' or 'man dpkg' to view the manual pages. Also see the apt-get/dpkg tutorial post in the HDD install section of this forum.

[caminoix]

it wasn't me who asked but i have the same problem, and CrashedAgain - thank you very much for the newbie-proof answer
unfortunately, it seems that i will not be able to use linux (kanotix) for a couple of days but i'm very curious:
it happens exremely often that when i download a .tar.gz and try to install it via synaptic it just doesn't see it. converting to .deb with alien doesn't help. using 'dpkg -i' only gets me an installed unpacked and uncompiled .tar.gz. sure, i have tried refreshing via synaptic.
is the 'dselect update' the solution? or is there something else i need to do?

[fingers99]

It's a really bad idea to use tar.gz packages unless you absolutely have to.

Listen, someone who knew much better than you or I designed apt-get. Apt will both install packages and sort out the dependencies for you. If you insist on using source packages (generally .tar.gz) sooner or later (generally depending on the complexity of the package) you'll break your system.

There's a tutorial on apt-get somewhere at the top of these pages. Alien is designed to convert rpm packages to debs, it won't touch source files.

But if you must, download the tarball (.tar.gz) to your home directory. In Konqueror, right click on it, select actions>extract here.

cd to the new directory that's been created (it'll have a name very similar to the tarball).

Read the readme

Generally, you do

./configure

(if configure is successful)

make

(if make is successful)

su to root and do

make install

But instructions do vary! Read the readme

[caminoix]

i know all this pretty well and i have done it all.
my problem is not how to install programs with apt-get.
it's just the opposite: how to install a program if i can only get its source, and apt-get doesn't see it?