Re: Advice on downloading software please
Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> writes:
> On Sat 27 Aug 2016 at 09:15:50 -0500, limpia wrote:
>
>> On 2016-08-27 08:55, Steve Greig wrote:
>> >I would like to download a programme (opencpn) onto my laptop which is
>> >running debian. It is so long since I have done this I can not
>> >remember how to start. Also I am not sure which version of debian I
>> >have which seems to be relevant according to the website. Instructions
>> >are given at xxxxxxxxx [1].
> ^
> |
> |
> What happened here-| ? The link has disappeared, Censorship at work?
limpia appears to have edited the URL out of his reply, since he is
recommending not using it. It is still there in the original post, as
one would expect.
>> >Any advice would be very much appreciated. Steve
>> >
>> >
>> >Links:
>> >------
>>
>> You can use 'uname -a ' to see what version of Debian
>> you have.
>
> Really? Positive?
More usefully, no, uname -a won't give the Debian version.
/etc/debian_version should contain the correct version, if it hasn't
been modified on your site. As the documentation for base-files says,
however, the contents of your /etc/apt/sources.list and
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/* are a more reliable way to determine it.
>> However, you also might want to read this:
>> https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian
>>
>> It is not a good idea to be using ubunto ppa's like
>> the instructions say on the link you posted.
>
> If it works, it works.
And if it doesn't, you're screwed.
>> As far as installing Debian packages goes, there is
>> plenty of documentation on that:
>> https://wiki.debian.org/DebianPackageManagement
>>
>> If you really need this program, and the source code
>> is available, you can follow the instructions here:
>> https://wiki.debian.org/CreatePackageFromPPA
>
> If it works, it works.
And if it doesn't, you're screwed.
>> But it still something, personally I would not
>> recommend.
>
> Even if it works?
It is a really good idea to check the contents of the PPA, and make sure
it doesn't bring in nonstandard versions of system libraries. I don't
remember ever having been burned by a PPA specifically, but I did once
have to spend a day cleaning stuff from debian-multimedia (long ago
enough that it wasn't deb-multimedia yet) off my system.
I frankly have to worry about somebody who is asking for help installing
from a PPA then being able to clean up if it goes sour.
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