How do I install previously downloaded *deb packages?
 

Hi,

Being a Debian newbie, I am slowly trying out things but I would appreciate some pointers here. While my question is in the context of the Kanotix live-CD (which I use for self-training purposes) I think that it would equally apply to the real Debian context.

After trying out apt-get (its *awesome*) I decided to download a package first without immediately installing it.

I have downloaded an application with apt-get install -d nameofapp. I then found that the application itself and the packages which are requiered by it were all placed into some apt cache (I forgot the exact path). I then copied them all on a flash memory stick and rebooted my Kanotix live-CD.

How do I install this application? I suppose that I will need to place the application and the associated requiered packages into some subdirectory and run dpkg -i namofapp but how do I tell dpkg where the app and the requiered packages are? Do I need to run dpkg from a specific location?

Alternatively, could I give apt-get the complete pathname to the subdirectory on my flash memory stick and tell it to install if from there rather than from the usual Debian repositories?

Lastly - if somebody could point me to a good source to RTFM on apt-get and dpkg I would be most thankful!

Kind regards,

VS

dpkg -i /path/to/nameofapp /path/to/nameofdep /path/to/nameofotherdep...

thanks a lot!

If pkgs are on flash drive. Kanotix should have made a drive icon for it on desktop then you could use dpkg -i *.deb from flash directory holding pkgs.
You can also mount the flash drive,cd to directory with debs and run same command. You can also use find to look for location of dl'd .debs, or go to /var directory and look for apt/cache to seek debs.
www.debianhelp.co.uk has apt/aptitude/dpkg tutorials and other goodies. Good luck.

thanks again guys! actually, since all the packages and their dependencies were in one location all I needed to do was dpkg -i /media/sda1/apt-packages/* and it installed them with no problems.

After 5 years of Mandrake use I still cannot get used to how fantastic Debian is!!