How to extract files from Debian package archive DEB

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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How to list all files installed by the DEB package on Ubuntu/Debian Linux

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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How to re-compile nginx webserver on Debian Linux

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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How to use jigdo downloader to download Debian Linux installation ISO images

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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Configuring Ubuntu style sudo privilege authorization on Debian Linux

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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steam client installation updating debian 8 jessie linux

Installation of Steam Client on Debian Jessie 8 Linux 64-bit

This article describes an installation of the Valve Steam Linux client on Debian 8 Jessie 64bit. The article assumes that you have already installed your VGA drives required to run Steam client. Let’s start with steam client download:

$ wget http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb

Once you have client downloaded install the steam.deb package. Please not the below command requires root privileges and will show errors due to the dependency problems which we will address next:

# dpkg -i steam.deb
Selecting previously unselected package steam-launcher.
(Reading database ... 82762 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack steam.deb ...
Unpacking steam-launcher (1.0.0.49) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of steam-launcher:
 steam-launcher depends on curl; however: 
  Package curl is not installed.
 steam-launcher depends on zenity; however:   
  Package zenity is not installed. 
                                            
dpkg: error processing package steam-launcher (--install): 
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.58) ...   
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.13-1) ...  
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.0.2-5) ... 
Errors were encountered while processing:  
 steam-launcher   

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Custom kernels in Ubuntu/Debian – how, when and why

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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installation of Firefox Web Browser on debian linux jessie 8

Simple Firefox Web Browser installation on Debian 8 Jessie Linux

There are many web browsers which comes from official Debian Jessie 8 repositories such as Iceweasel, Konqueror to name just few. For all reasons and intentions you should be able to do any work required a web browser using Iceweasel the official Debian Firefox clone. However, if you insists on using Firefox web browser you can install it easily by using Linux Mint’s imports repository. First edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file to include:

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com debian import

Update system repositories:

# apt-get update

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