Debian

Very useful tool to extract files from Debian package archive DEB (*.deb) is ar command. First, let’s download a sample debian package hello_2.10-1_amd64.deb:

$ wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/h/hello/hello_2.10-1_amd64.deb

Now, that we have downloaded our sample Debian package we can use ar command to list its content. This can be achieved by t option:

$ ar t hello_2.10-1_amd64.deb 
debian-binary
control.tar.gz
data.tar.xz

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The typical question after we install a new package on our system is that what are the actual files ware installed and what is their location. This may be even less obvious if the final executable name intended to start your program has slightly different name than the package its self. In the following example we are going to install a dummy package hello using apt-get command:

# apt-get install hello
...
(Reading database ... 7528 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../hello_2.9-2+deb8u1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking hello (2.9-2+deb8u1) ...
Setting up hello (2.9-2+deb8u1) ...

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Symptoms:

Using a apt tools may result in a following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 28, in 
    import lsb_release
ImportError: No module named 'lsb_release'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/lsb_release", line 28, in 
    import lsb_release
ImportError: No module named 'lsb_release'

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There are multiple way on how to determine whether a specific package is already installed on your system. The first dpkg command will list all currenlty installed packages on your system:

# dpkg -l

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Let’s say you wish to do some changes to nginx source code in
order to add or remove some features before the actual nginx
package installation. In this config we will show how to recompile
nginx package on Debian linux.

First install package building tools:

# apt-get install dpkg-dev

Next, we need to install all nginx build dependencies:

# apt-get build-dep nginx

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This short config will describe a installation of s3cmd Command Line S3 tool on Debian. First update your repository:

# apt-get update

Next, install Python package installer pip which will be later used to install s3cmd:

apt-get install python-pip

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Using jigdo downloader is a smarter and greener way of downloading data from the Internet mirrors. In comparison to a regular download where you point your browser or wget command to a single mirror URL, jigdo allows for multiple mirrors where the main feature is to re-use a previously download ISO image of a lower version to use as base and thus only new packages not downloaded previously are downloaded.

For this reason using jigdo is often faster way of downloading debian ISO images. To start using you first need to install it on your system:

# apt-get install jigdo-file

Once the jigdo-file package is downloaded your can start using jigdo do download official Debian instillation images. All you need is the URL of the *.jigdo file of the image you intend to download. In the example below we download Debian Jessie KDE iso image. First start jigdo:

$ jigdo-lite
Jigsaw Download "lite"
Copyright (C) 2001-2005  |  jigdo@
Richard Atterer          |  atterer.net
Getting mirror information from /etc/apt/sources.list

-----------------------------------------------------------------

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Docker and its Docker.io debian pakcage is currently not available Debian Jessie thus:

 Package 'docker.io' has no installation candidate

The easiest way to install docker is to use get.docker.com script:
First, install curl tool:

# apt-get install curl

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The following lines will describe a procedure on how to mimic Ubuntu’s sudo privilege authorization system on Debian Linux. Sudo allows users to run programs with the authorization privileges of another user by supplying their own password for authentication.

If you have not done so yet, first install sudo package:

# apt-get install sudo

Once sudo is installed run:

# visudo

which allows you to edit the content of /etc/sudoers file. Change the content of this file as show below:

Defaults        env_reset
Defaults        mail_badpass
Defaults        secure_path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"

root    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL
%sudo   ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

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So, you’ve decided to try out this thing you heard others talk about, called ‘compiling a custom kernel’. If you are trying this as a hobby, or because you want to learn a new skill, very well – read on.

However, before we start, we will try to explain situations when this need arises and how to deal with it. Note that this is an extensive subject which needs much more in terms of space than we will provide here. You will learn the basics, what you need, what to do and what you’ll achieve.

For more info, as usual, Google is your friend; also , the documentation resident in the kernel source tree will answer lots of questions. So, let’s start with the beginning, with a last note : if need arises, we will publish more articles related to kernel compiling pertaining to other distros.

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