Unix and Linux Stack Exchange
Unix and Linux Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [debian]

Questions specific to the Debian official distribution (stable, testing, or unstable); if you are using a derivative of Debian (e.g. Mint, Ubuntu, Kali, etc), then use that distribution’s tag instead.

debian

Debian is a community-driven Linux distribution with a very large number of packages and many supported architectures. Development started in 1993. Several distributions derive from it in some form, including , , and , among many others.

Use this tag for questions that apply specifically to a Debian release; if the question concerns a derivative distribution, use that distribution's tag instead.

If you’re using a derivative, don’t assume that Debian works the same way — that may be the case, but it’s not always true.

Philosophy

The goal of the Debian project is to produce a free operating system. The Debian Free Software Guidelines are one of the notable definitions of free software, and the Open Source Definition derives from it. Debian provides a small amount of non-free software, though it is not formally part of Debian.

Releases

At any point in time, there are at least three distributions of Debian:

  • stable: the officially released distribution.
  • testing: the preparation ground for “stable”. This can be seen as a rolling release.
  • unstable: the latest packages as they come in.

The previous released distribution is known as oldstable and is supported in parallel of the current released distribution, initially by the project as a whole, later in life by the long-term support (LTS) effort.

In addition to Debian GNU/Linux, there are projects for BSD-based versions of Debian and Debian GNU/Hurd.

Documentation

Common tasks

  • Install a package: apt install package-name
  • Apply updates: apt update && apt upgrade

Further reading

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How do I set my DNS when resolv.conf is being overwritten?

Most of the info I see online says to edit /etc/resolv.conf, but any changes I make there just get overridden. $ cat /etc/resolv.conf # Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8) # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND…
Seán Hayes
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What's the story behind Super Cow Powers?

As we know, apt-get has Super Cow Powers and aptitude does not: $ apt-get --help | grep -i cow This APT has Super Cow Powers. $ aptitude --help | grep -i cow This aptitude does not have Super Cow Powers. and…
derobert
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What is the real difference between "apt-get" and "aptitude"? (How about "wajig"?)

I know that both apt-get and aptitude are command line package management interfaces on Debian derived Linux, with different options, but I'm still somewhat confused. Under the hood, aren't they using the same APT system? Why does Debian maintain…
Kevin Cantu
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Why is 'ls' suddenly wrapping items with spaces in single quotes?

I just noticed that on one of my machines (running Debian Sid) whenever I type ls any file name with spaces has single quotes surrounding it. I immediately checked my aliases, only to find them intact. wyatt@debian630:~/testdir$ ls 'test 1.txt' …
Wyatt Ward
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How to enable diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 key exchange on Debian 8.0?

I am unable to ssh to a server that asks for a diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 key exchange method: ssh 123.123.123.123 Unable to negotiate with 123.123.123.123 port 22: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 How…
j1088099.mvrht.com.
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Failed to fetch jessie backports repository

I'm using a docker image as a base for my own development that adds the jessie backports repository in its Dockerfile and uses that to install a dependency. This image uses the following command to add the repository: echo "deb…
user12345
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"no public key available" on apt-get update

When performing apt-get update, I get the following error: root@ADS3-Debian6:/home/aluno# apt-get update Atingido http://sft.if.usp.br squeeze Release.gpg Ign http://sft.if.usp.br/debian/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en Ign…
That Brazilian Guy
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How to apt-delete-repository?

I would like to run the reverse of this command to remove the non-compatible repository in Debian 8.1 sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:nemh/systemback where the command add-apt-repository is in the package software-properties-common. I could not…
Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
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How to add repository from shell in Debian?

In Ubuntu one can add a repository via following command - sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair As Ubuntu is based on Debian code base, I was expecting that the same would work in Debian too, but it doesn't. What is the reason for…
Kshitiz Sharma
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-bash: sudo: command not found

I am trying to deploy django app. When I print apt-get update I see W: Unable to read /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ - DirectoryExists (13: Permission denied) W: Unable to read /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ - DirectoryExists (13: Permission denied) W: Unable to…
user2950593
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How can I communicate with a Unix domain socket via the shell on Debian Squeeze?

I’m running a Debian Squeeze web server. I’ve installed memcached on it, and configured memcached to listen on a Unix domain socket (at /tmp/memcached.sock), as it only needs to receive messages from the website, which lives on the same server. It…
Paul D. Waite
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List packages on an apt based system by installation date

How can I list installed packages by installation date? I need to do this on debian/ubuntu. Answers for other distributions would be nice as well. I installed a lot of stuff to compile a certain piece of code, and I want to get a list of the…
Elazar Leibovich
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gpg: keyserver receive failed: No dirmngr

While trying to receive keys in my Debian Stretch server, I get this error: sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 3FA7E0328081BFF6A14DA29AA6A19B38D3D831EF Executing: /tmp/apt-key-gpghome.4B7hWtn7Rm/gpg.1.sh…
Hunter.S.Thompson
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How to install Python 3.6?

I'd like to install the latest Python, which is 3.6 at the time of this post. However, the repository is saying that Python 3.4.2 is the newest version. I've tried: $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install python3 python3 is already the newest…
davidtgq
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How to update Linux "locate" cache

How can I update the cache / index of locate? I installed new packages and the files are clearly not yet indexed. So which command do I have to commit, in order for the indexer to trigger? I'm currently working on debian jessie (testing): with Linux…
sweisgerber.dev
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