Hello,

I'm interested in being able to download source packages from debian repos but see that aptitude doesn't handle this (am I wrong). Ive only been using aptitude but am now thinking about switching to apt completely. Will this cause problems on my system? If so, is there a way to switch that is safe.

Many Thanks,

pb

i`ve read that nowadays it wouldn`t be a problem and one could even use
both (in fact i sometimes use aptitude, while most of the time apt-get, without further problems). i wouldn`t rely on this and wait till one might tell you for sure/confirm.
greetings

Yes. You can think of synaptic, aptitude, apt-get as on a higher level, as front-ends for the lower level dpkg system. Aptitude and apt-get coexist, and I use both.

Thanks for the advise!

-c

If you have Synaptics installed (it is by default in Ubuntu releases), it is probably the easiest to use. Make sure you have all the repositories you want in your /etc/apt/sources.list. You can find a lot more software in the multiverse and universe repositories for your release (but don't mix release levels in this list). But if you find an article that gives instructions using apt-get, you can do that on the command line in a terminal.

Donald

I've used both aptitude and apt-get in the past. I've always have the best luck with apt-get. As previously pointed out, most external articles refer to apt-get, as does some "missing commands". If I required more information, I dig using dpkg tools.

Thanks for your reply Donald. I'm using Debian testing pinning unstable, not Ubuntu.

Cheers,

pb

just make sure you have the source repos in /etc/apt/sources.list

i use aptitude for both binary debs as well as source debs.

I am under the impression that it is not in the best interest of the user to mix package managers. There are differences in how both apt and aptitude handle issues, with respect to removing packages in the dist-upgrade option for one. You should choose your preferred package manager upon install, and stick with it. I do have synaptic installed on my debian sid system for quick reference of installed packages and information, however, use apt solely for maintaining the ever-changing sid/unstable environment.

You are always encouraged to research it if you have any hesitation, if you break your system you can keep both parts. Aptitude vs Apt has been a bone of contention forever, everyone has their opinion......................

Cheers

caveat: apt-get does not respect things held with 'aptitude hold'.

I have had better luck with aptitude; I switched away from apt-get the day apt-get wanted to remove libc6 and aptitude didn't.

Aptitude does a better job at solving dependencies that cross distros (testable, unstable, experimental.)

Ubuntu is Debian-based, sort of Debian on steroids. I should have mentioned that. I assumed that you knew that. Sorry! Most of what you can do in one you can do in the other, except for the leading-edge stuff in Ubuntu.

I don't know if you have Synaptic installed by default or not. It certainly will work in Debian, though!

http://wiki.debian.org/Synaptic

I got the impression from the Wiki that Synaptic is not installed by default, but you can add it at any time if I read the Wiki correctly.

Unless you're really tied to Debian for some reason, you might consider switching to Ubuntu, at least the last LTS version (they are about 18 months apart). They have great help forums and it is a very popular distro, possibly the most popular among home users. This isn't to say that others are not as good, they're just different. But since you're already familiar with Debian commands, you wouldn't have to learn new ways of doing things, at least for most things. And you can get it with Gnome or KDE set up by default, too, as well as one other desktop that takes less system resources than the other two (but isn't as pretty to look at or as useful). I think the other is XFCE or something like that. There is Ubuntu (Gnome), Kubuntu (KDE), and Xubuntu available. I prefer Gnome, but Xubuntu seems more like Windows (to me, anyway) and some people like that.

Ubuntu really shines where hardware support comes in. I haven't tried Debian since Ubuntu IS Debian, sort of. I will bur a live Lenny CD and see how it is with wireless networking support, which is where some people seem to have difficulties with some distros. I'd also like to see what Ubuntu is really based on, without all the niceties and conveniences added. (The latest version supports the EXT4 file system, by the way.)

Donald

I haven't tried installing a source package lately, but in Etch there was no way to install source packages with aptitude (except the kernel source). There wasn't any apt-get source blahblah equivalent for aptitude in Etch.

The Gdebi package installer (installed by default in Ubuntu) is available for Debian. I believe it resolves dependencies, etc., as does the Synaptic package manager, which also allows you to browse for software in the repositories you enable.

http://packages.debian.org/unstable/admin/gdebi

You still would have to "get" the package to your installation somehow, but if you downloaded a *.deb package, you would open it with Gdebi and it would install it for you. It's not flawless, but it works for most things I've installed that way, like Crossover Office for Linux (as one example).

I prefer the Synaptic package manager over all other methods of getting software, but there are some packages that aren't in any of the repositories and you have to get them yourself. That's then Gdebi comes in handy.

Donald

Hello Donald,

Thanks for the email. Yes I'm aware that Ubuntu is a Debian derivative and I have used Ubuntu in the recent past. Ubuntu at once attempts to appeal to a broader audience by throwing in all the bells and whistles which may be good for the beginner, but leaves an often bloated system with items that you may not need. As you know, Debian maintains different release paths (Stable, Testing and Unstable proper) and even the testing branch is more stable than many distros. That being said, in my humble experience, there is absolutely nothing behind-the-times or bland about the distro. There is nothing that you can't install on Debian, I'm using the latest Open Office, Flash and Firefox/Thunderbird for example. Its just not right out of the box, which is the way I prefer it. I get only what I need at first and then install the nifty bleeding edge programs that I want, on my own. Keeps it from being Mac or Windowsish that way. Another drawback especially for beginners, is that if everything "just works" you aren't challenged with as many learning opportunities. Most of my knowledge of Linux and Unix has come about because I've had to figure out how to do something unfamiliar- these are golden opportunities that may be missed if everything is done for you.

My original question was about switching the dpkg interface. I know in the past that they have used different databases to track dependencies and just wanted to know if mixing apt and aptitude would screw with global dependency tracking. It seems you are very happy with your Ubuntu and I wish more people would try it as an alternative to proprietary OSs. For me, I can't think of using anything besides Debian at this point, with the exception perhaps of FreeBSD.

Cheers,

pb