Install Deb Package Puppy Linux Forum
- This was done in Carolina-Vangaurd XFCE Puppy Linux. I wrote about here Happy Trails, Rok Edit: Special thanks must go to 'The_Solutor' for giving me the idea in my other thread here.
- Postfs1: That's more or less only if you're not using a relatively recent version of Puppy. I think Puppy's supported installing directly from.deb files (and RPMs?) since Puppy 4.3, or so. (Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, though.).
I downloaded puppy linux 7.5,which runs on ubuntu 16.04 64bit and installed this on a 16G flash drive. The system works fine and other programs downloaded work “out of the box” but manager will not open. After installing the.deb file, puppy puts it in the utility's menu, the manager icon is there but will not.
Every Linux distribution based on Debian uses Debian packages as a method for installing and uninstalling the software. Debian packages are identified by the file extension .deb. They can be installed and uninstalled using graphical tools and the command line.
Why Install a .deb File Manually
Most of the time you use a package manager such as the Ubuntu Software Center, Synaptic, or Muon to install the software in Debian-based distributions. If you prefer to use the command line, you are likely to use apt-get.
Some applications aren't available in the repositories and have to be downloaded from the vendors' websites. Be careful about downloading and installing Debian packages from sources that do not exist in the distribution's repositories.
Some of the biggest applications are delivered in this format, including Google's Chrome web browser. For this reason, it is important to know how to install the packages manually.
Where to Get a .deb File
For demonstration purposes, you need a .deb file to install.
This example uses the .deb file for a QR Code Creator. A QR code is one of those funny-looking symbols you see just about everywhere. When you focus on the QR Code with your mobile device, it takes you to a web page, almost like a hyperlink.
On the QR Code Creator page, there is a .deb file. Clicking on the link downloads the .deb file to your downloads folder.
How to Install .deb Packages
The tool used to install and uninstall Debian packages is called 'dpkg.' It is a command line tool. Through the use of switches, you can do many different things with it.
The first thing you want to do is install the package. Type the following into the command line:
For example to install the QR Code Creator the command is as follows:
If you prefer, you can also use --install instead of -i as follows:
What Happens If It Breaks?
When you install a any type of package on a Linux system, there's a good chance that it's going to depend on other packages, often called dependencies. Dpkg doesn't have automatic dependency resolution, meaning that it won't pull the packages that your package requires. Often times, this leads to errors when installing a .deb package with dpkg.
There's a simple solution. After your install fails, run the following command to use the Apt package manager, which does have dependency resolution, to sort out the mess and fix anything that's broken.
You can shorten that to:
Apt will clean up what dpkg broke, and install both your package and its dependencies.
Installing With Apt
You do have another option when it comes to installing .deb packages on your system. The Apt package manager, the same one you use to update your system and install new packages from the Web, can also install packages locally on your system.
As previously discussed, Apt has the advantage of automatic dependency resolution, so you won't need to worry about things ever breaking in the first place. Apt will handle both your package and anything that it may need.
To use Apt, simply point it in the direction of whichever .deb package you want to install.
If you want to play it extra safe, you can add the 'fix broken' flag from before to ensure that Apt gets everything.
What Is in a .deb File?
If you have ever wondered what makes up a .deb package, you can run the following command to extract the files from a package without installing it.
This command extracts the contents of the qr-code-creator package into a folder called qrcodecreator located in the home folder (/home/qrcodecreator). The destination folder qrcodecreator must already exist.
In the case of qr code creator, the contents are as follows:
- usr
- usr -> bin
- usr -> bin -> qr-code-creator
- usr -> share
- usr -> share -> applications
- usr -> share -> applications -> qr-code-creator.desktop
- usr -> share -> doc
- usr -> share -> doc -> qr-code-creator
- usr -> share -> doc -> qr-code-creator -> changelog.gz
- usr -> share -> doc -> qr-code-creator -> copyright
- usr -> share -> man
- usr -> share -> man -> man1
- usr -> share -> man -> man1 -> qr-code-creator.1.gz
- usr -> share -> pixmaps
- usr -> share -> pixmaps -> qr-code-creator.png
- usr -> share -> qr-code-creator
Removing .deb Packages
Remove a Debian package using the following command:
If you want to remove the configuration files as well, use the following command:
Apt can handle these too, and you won't need to remember the whole version number, just the actual name of the package.
If you are using a Ubuntu-based distribution, just double-click on the .deb file, and it loads into the Software Center. Then, click install.
How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
10 Answers
Packages are manually installed via the dpkg command (Debian Package Management System). dpkg is the backend to commands like apt-get and aptitude, which in turn are the backend for GUI install apps like the Software Center and Synaptic.
Something along the lines of:
dpkg -->apt-get, aptitude --> Synaptic, Software Center
But of course the easiest ways to install a package would be, first, the GUI apps (Synaptic, Software Center, etc..), followed by the terminal commands apt-get and aptitude that add a very nice user friendly approach to the backend dpkg, including but not limited to packaged dependencies, control over what is installed, needs update, not installed, broken packages, etc.. Lastly the dpkg command which is the base for all of them.
Since dpkg is the base, you can use it to install packaged directly from the command line.
Install a package
For example if the package file is called askubuntu_2.0.deb then you should do sudo dpkg -i askubuntu_2.0.deb. If dpkg reports an error due to dependency problems, you can run sudo apt-get install -f to download the missing dependencies and configure everything. If that reports an error, you'll have to sort out the dependencies yourself by following for example How do I resolve unmet dependencies after adding a PPA?.
Remove a package
For example if the package is called askubuntu then you should do sudo dpkg -r askubuntu.
Reconfigure an existing package
Distrowatch
This is useful when you need to reconfigure something related to said package. Some useful examples it the keyboard-configuration when you want to enable the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace in order to reset the X server, so you would the following:
Another great one is when you need to set the Timezone for a server or your local testing computer, so you use use the tzdata package:
Debian (.deb) packages are the packages that are used in Ubuntu. You can install any .deb package in your system. .deb files can generally be installed from your file manager (Nautilus) merely by clicking on them, since file associations with the default installer is already set in Ubuntu. These instructions are for those who wish to install packages from the command-line terminal (Terminal).
To install a downloaded Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb): Open Terminal and type
To remove a Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb):
To Reconfigure/Repair an installed Debian (Ubuntu) package (.deb):
Atul MakwanaAtul MakwanaMy favourite is GDebi, available from both terminal/shell or graphical desktop.
I usually associate .deb files with GDebi as it is fast and efficient - especially compared to Ubuntu Software Center. One of the main feature of GDebi is it resolves dependencies and installs them.
For command-line run sudo gdebi <package.deb> to install a single deb file.
dstodstoAre you looking for all dpkg commands? click this link to have a read.
There are two actions, they are dpkg-query and dpkg-deb.
Install a package
Remove a package
Remove a package and its configuration files
List all installed packages.
You can pipe the command to less (a pager) so you can more easily scroll the content:
Check if the package is installed or not
Check if the package is installed or not, and if it is, launch it:
See whether a package is installed or not
And this will show the location where the package will be installed.Here -S (capital S) to search whether the package was installed or not.
Install a *.deb package from a specified location
Here -R is recursive. (Recursively handle all regular files matching the pattern *.deb found at specified directories and all of its subdirectories).
Show package details
Here -p (lowercase p) will show the package info:
View the content of a package
Use -c (lowercase c) to show the content:
Extract the *.deb package file
Use -x (lowercase x) to extract:
Extract and display the filenames contained in a package
Use -X (uppercase X) to display the content with extraction.
Display information about a package
Here -I stands for information:
Reconfigure an already installed package
dpkg-reconfigure reconfigures packages after they already have been installed. Pass it the name(s) of a package or packages to reconfigure. It will ask configuration questions, much like when the package was first installed.
This will reconfigure postfix the same way as when you installed it for the first time.
Need to know more about dpkg commands? Have a look at the manual page:
Install Deb Packages Ubuntu
Babin LonstonBabin LonstonWhile dpkg -i indeed installs the package, it doesn't do any automatic dependency resolution, meanwhile there are two other alternatives, using gdebi, or the apt-get tool. To use the later just use:
Even if you are on the directory with the package you need to give a path using ./ at the start:
A handy tip when installing a program like Libreoffice which has multiple .deb files in a folder is to use.
Here's the best way to install a .deb file on Ubuntu on the command-line:
If you don't have gdebi installed already, install it using sudo apt install gdebi-core.
gdebi will look for all the dependencies of the .deb file, and will install them before attempting to install the .deb file. I find this much preferable than sudo dpkg -i skype.deb && sudo apt install -f. The latter is much too eager to remove dependencies in certain situations. For instance, when I tried to install Skype, it attempted to remove 96 (!) packages, including packages like compiz and unity! gdebi gave a much clearer error message:
(Here is the solution to that particular issue, by the way.)
Create your own script installer debInstaller as the following:
Make the script executable with
Then move it to some dirs in your PATH or add the current directory to your PATH.
I'm going to move it to /usr/bin
Puppy Linux Install From Windows
Now you can install any .deb package using the command:
The added value of this method is the solving the dependencies problem, since mostly you'll face some problems when you install a .deb with dpkg -i due to dependencies error, so you have to use apt-get install -f to solve it, this script will do the job for you, but here I used apt-get --yes --fix-broken install to automatically solve these errors without user intervention.
To install deb files, open Terminal and type:
The second line is to fix broken packages if the installation fails, then, install again to complete the installation.
Another approach is to use gdebi tool to install deb files.
There are many tools to install a deb packageI personally use built-in package installer dpkg
If you are logged as rootchange the directory to location of deb package
if you are not logged as root
To make sure that package installed correctly and didn't have any broken dependencies
If there are any broken dependencies
protected by Community♦Feb 20 '14 at 20:57
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