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Details
Debian

Objective

The objective is to install Dropbox client on the Debian 9 Stretch Linux.

Requirements

Privileged access to your Debian 9 Stretch Linux is required.

Difficulty

EASY

Conventions

Details
Debian

Introduction

Django is the top Python web development framework and for good reason. It's powerful, flexible, and doesn't get in the way of developers. It also scales incredibly well, powering sites like Instagram.

Installing a Django development environment is very simple on Linux, and Debian makes it even simpler. There are two basic ways to go about it; the virtualenv way and the Debian way. The virtualenv way keeps django and all of the other Python packages installed with it contained, allowing for multiple installations with different packages and package versions. The Debian way uses apt to install and manage Django.

The Virtualenv Way

The virtualenv route is the best way to go if you need multiple independent Django installs or you want to work with different versions of Python than the ones Debian uses by default.

Installing the Packages

To stat off, you need to make sure that Python is installed and install the virtualenv package to compartmentalize your Python projects. 
# apt install python python3 virtualenv

Details
Debian

Introduction

Discord is the favorite chat client among gamers. A few months back, an experimental "canary" release was launched for Linux. More recently, though, the availability of a stable client was announced.

Because of the popularity of Ubuntu and Debian systems, the client is available in a .deb package, making installing it on Debian Stretch super simple.

Get The Package

In order to get the package, you can either get the package from Discord's website or use wget. To use the wget option, cd into the directory where you want to save the package, and use wget to pull it down.

Details
Debian

Introduction

Ruby on Rails is the web framework that revolutionized web development a few years ago and powers many of the hottest start-ups today. It allows developers to rapidly develop working prototypes and even full sites without having to reinvent the wheel or worry about loads of configuration.

Ruby runs best on Unix-like systems, making Linux an excellent choice for developing for Rails. Debian Stretch comes loaded with up-to-date version of Ruby and Rails as well as providing support for the popular RVM Ruby manager.

Installing Ruby and Rails

There are two basic ways to install Ruby and Rails on Debian Stretch. The first is to use RVM(Ruby Version Manager). It allows you to change and select any current version of Ruby and compartmentalize installs.

The other option is to use the packages in the Debian repositories. They are stable and kept relatively current. They also can be used system wide.

Details
Debian

Introduction

The LAMP server is the cornerstone of Linux web hosting. In the early days of dynamic web content LAMP was what won Linux the crown in the web space, and it still is responsible for powering a very large portion of the Internet's sites.

If you're looking to set up a LAMP stack to host your website, it'd be hard to find a better option to build it on than Debian Stretch. Debian is, after all, well known for its stability, security, and massive package repositories, and Stretch is certainly no exception.

Details
Debian

Introduction

The Cloud can be a great thing. It can also be a terrifying Orwellian nightmare where some faceless corporate entity has every picture you've ever taken of your family. To prevent the latter, there's Nextcloud.

You many have heard of Owncloud. It was the primary solution for open source self hosted cloud storage for quite some time. Unfortunately, due to internal struggles, Owncloud split. Owncloud still remains, but it is currently owned by the people that caused the split. Nextcloud, on the other hand, is run by the original founder and the people who wanted to continue to work with the open source community.

Before you start the Nextcloud install process, you should follow our other guide on setting up a LAMP server on Debian Stretch. Nextcloud is a PHP application that utilizes a database and works best when paired with Apache. Having a LAMP server set up will be the best starting point.

Details
Debian

Objective

The following Spotify setup procedure outlines installation steps as provided by spotify.com. Nonetheless, may you encounter some difficulties along the way of the Spotify installation on Debian Stretch, read the appendix below to resolve them.

Requirements

Privileged access to your Debian Stretch system is required.

Difficulty

EASY

Conventions

Details
Debian

Objective

Replace systemd with SysV Init as the init system on Debian Stretch

Distributions

Debian Stretch

Requirements

A working Debian Stretch install with root privileges.

Difficulty

Medium

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Not everyone loves systemd, and for those that don't, there really aren't many options. That's especially true if you want something like a stable server. Fear not, SysV Init is actually still supported under Debian, and it's not hard to switch.

**Note:** don't try this if you're running GNOME or another desktop environment that has a hard dependency on systemd. It will just break your system.

Add Devuan Repositories

This part isn't strictly necessary if you just want to switch the init system and leave systemd installed as a compatibility layer. That would work fine. If you absolutely don't want systemd on your system at all, you need to make some arrangements to make the things that depend on it work.

Devuan, the systemd-less Debian fork is lagging a bit behind. Their Stretch release, ASCII, isn't ready, and running Devuan's testing releases isn't super stable right now. However, the did build some crucial packages to make systemd-dependent programs work without it, and you can use them in Debian.

First, create a new .list file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ for Devuan. Then, add the following line to it.

Details
Debian

Objective

Install packages from Ubuntu PPAs on Debian.

Distributions

Debian

Requirements

You need a working Debian install with root privileges.

Difficulty

Medium

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Ubuntu and it's derivatives are easily the most popular Linux distributions in the world. As a result, they enjoy more third party support than most other distributions, including Ubuntu's parent, Debian.

It's often frustrating for Debian users to come across software packaged in the .deb format and made freely available, but not to them. Ubuntu packages don't always work on Debian. Actually, more often than not, there's some kind of problem running or installing them. Plus, Debian isn't really set up to interact with Ubuntu PPAs.

So, what's a Debian user to do? That's something the Debian Project has thought of. There's actually a defined method for downloading source packages from Ubuntu PPAs and rebuilding them for Debian. As an added bonus, it's not really that hard.

Details
Debian

Objective

Install the Composer PHP package manager on Debian.

Distributions

This guide focuses on Debian, but may work with Ubuntu as well.

Requirements

A working Debian install with root privileges.

Difficulty

Easy

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Composer is a PHP package manager that assists in the installation and management of PHP packages. It also helps handle project dependencies. As a result, many modern PHP projects rely on Composer.

Though Composer is in the Debian repositories, the version there is terribly out-of-date. Installing it directly from the development team is easy regardless.

Details
Debian

Objective

Install Firefox 57, Quantum, on Debian Stretch

Distributions

Debian 9 Stretch

Requirements

A working Debian Stretch install with root privileges.

Difficulty

Easy

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Firefox 57 is easily the best update to come to Firefox ever. Mozilla even named this release "Quantum" because of how dramatically the browser speed improved. Couple that with the complete redesign of Firefox's UI, and you have a pretty dramatic change.

Thanks to Debian's release schedule, it's unlikely that Stretch will ever officially see Firefox 57. However, it is available in Sid. You won't need to upgrade all the way to Sid to get it either. You only need to tell Debian to use Firefox from Sid.

Details
Debian

Objective

Install Serviio media service on Raspberry Pi

Requirements

  • A Raspberry Pi with a working installation of Raspbian "Stretch"
  • Root privileges

Difficulty

EASY

Conventions

Details
Debian

Objective

Install WordPress on Debian 9 Stretch

Distributions

Debian 9 Stretch

Requirements

A working install of Debian Stretch with root privileges

Difficulty

Easy

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

WordPress is easily the most popular content management system available. It's probably also the most popular platform on the web altogether. Whether you're hosting a small blog of a large online publication, WordPress is an excellent option.

Details
Debian

Objective

Install Gitlab on Debian 9 Stretch

Distributions

Debian 9 Stretch

Requirements

A working installation of Debian Stretch with root access.

Difficulty

Easy

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Gitlab is an awesome free software alternative to Github. It allows teams and individual developers to host and manage their own projects on servers that they control. Debian Stretch provides a stable foundation for Gitlab and can make for an excellent code repository server. Plus, Gitlab's Omnibus Package makes installation super simple.

Details
Debian

Objective

Install the latest stable version of Mesa on Debian Stretch.

Distributions

Debian 9 Stretch

Requirements

A working install of Debian Stretch with root access.

Difficulty

Medium

Conventions

  • # - requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
  • $ - requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Mesa is a big deal if you're running open source graphics drivers. It can be the difference between a smooth experience and an awful one. Mesa is under active development, and it sees constant noticeable performance improvements. That means it's really worthwhile to stay on top of the latest releases. Debian usually doesn't, though, so Debian users have to take matters into their own hands.

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