Installing Ubuntu packages on Debian

[craigevil]

Just one example:
[SOLVED] Can't open synaptic after trying install flash deb of ubuntu - http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... tu-739384/

One single package screwed up the poor guys system, just one. It is never a good idea to install ubuntu packages on Debian.
Either find a repo that has the package you want or build a backport yourself.

Anyone that says it is OK to install a package not made for a distro is either insane or totally clueless.

There aren't that many packages that ubuntu has that can't be found for Debian.

[nadir]

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 36#p296402

I have reported the posts of AdrianTM. One of them has been changed/removed. An adequate answer would be beyond the realm of words.
I am very disappointed why one needs to attack another user personally in such a manner.
Its a shame.

[AdrianTM]

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 36#p296402

I have reported the posts. An adequate answer would be beyond the realm of words.
I am very disappointed why one needs to attack another user personally in such a manner.
Its a shame.

Do you want me to explain? I can.

First of all notice who attacked personally first:

Even for you I find this completely obserd!!

Funny, right?

Up to this point I had thought you had at least "some" common sense[...]

Moderator talk?

Oddly, I thought you had more class [...]

Again, coming unprovoked from somebody that I didn't even address.

Do you not have any respect or regard at all for others?

Not for people with IQ in two digits.

In essance you are encuraging others that are not as well informed as you should be by now to destabalize or completely break their systems by introducing foreign packages designed for a bianarliy incompatable distro.

In essence if you don't understand a point, don't get involved.

It really disturbes me that you would stoop this low [...]

Seeing so much stupidity coming from a mod on this forum is disturbing to me.

your beloved Ubuntu.

**** you, don't pretend you know what I think and what I like.

1. My point was that APT is a good tool and if you don't do stupid things like installing a foreign deb with --force-all it will reasonably protect you.
2. There's nothing magic about .debs. You can unpack them manually, it's just file files! You can even run an unpacked program from a deb, the problem is if you overwrite important files, see point one.
3. I don't even defend Ubuntu here, the point is about any debs and APT.
4. I don't encourage people to do anything I just expressed a technical personal opinion and I was personally attacked by a moderator, how do you expect to react? You can disagree, you can say that my idea is dangerous but to come with personal attacks like that is "redeculous" to quote one of our mods.
5. English is my third language, I don't criticize people for English mistakes, but it starts to get on my nerves when I see mods haven't discovered the great tool called "spell-checker" yet.
6. And most importantly you can disagree with me like other people did in that thread without attacking my person and without rolling your eyes (especially when your knowledge is limited and don't really get what I'm talking about).

[AdrianTM]

And finally, to return the discussion to the technical issues, can anybody find me an official Ubuntu (or any other deb distro) package that installs cleanly on Debian (by "cleanly" I mean without using --force-all) that breaks APT and can't be removed cleanly (and here by cleanly I mean without leaving any major problems behind)? Thanks!

I don't even claim that's impossible, I don't think it's likely, as I said "I don't buy it".

[pcalvert]

This thread seems somewhat relevant to what's being discussed here:
"b0rked" my Linux OS

Phil

[Absent Minded]

AdrianTM, I do apologize for getting bent out of shape over your post, stating that you lacked common sense and that I thought you had more class. Both statements were uncalled for.

As for the rest of what I stated in regards to you encuraging less experianced users to just grab any old deb file and install it no matter where it came from, I do not support your position and personal comments aside I stand by what I have said.

[mzilikazi]

Why so? APT is very capable, even if a program would not work you can always remove it, also if it wants to write on files that belongs to other packages it will fail, so what's the risk? If there's no Debian package available you can try at least to see if the Ubuntu package works.

You can read what Mark Shuttleworth has to say about binary compatibility yourself. Debian is not binary-compatible with Ubuntu.

That of course if you don't have such a distaste (and mental sickness, see my sig) that would stop you behave rationally...

[refracta]

It isn't just about being able to cleanly install something today and cleanly remove something tommorow. That is a fairly minor issue, assuming you only pulled in a package or two. Having conflicting repos that want to install seperate versions of the same packages and a repo that wants to add/configure stuff that doesn't even exist in the original repo and so on....sounds like a problem to me....could just be me though.

[snowpine]

It is important to distinguish between "installing a package from the Ubuntu repository" vs. "installing a 3rd party .deb that is advertised as packaged for Ubuntu."

I would not do the former (personally) but I've had good success with the latter. For example, Boxee is distributed as an "Ubuntu" .deb, but installed just fine on my Squeeze box.

[refracta]

...the latter may not be good to do either if it truly expects a ubuntu system

Anyone creating a generic deb should state that it is generic and stop using the word 'ubuntu' when they mean 'linux'

[AdrianTM]

It isn't just about being able to cleanly install something today and cleanly remove something tommorow. That is a fairly minor issue, assuming you only pulled in a package or two. Having conflicting repos that want to install seperate versions of the same packages and a repo that wants to add/configure stuff that doesn't even exist in the original repo and so on....sounds like a problem to me....could just be me though.

I totally agree with this. Mixing repos is not a good idea, installing a deb package (without forcing the installation) won't brake anything that can't be fixed by removing the package (or at least it shouldn't). As for 3rd party applications, most of sites even if they list different version for Debian and Ubuntu they actually serve the same file which works fine in either distro.

[refracta]

but you talked about using apt....which implies mixing repos...which implies letting it satisfy dependencies....which implies....b0rk3d

but even a simple deb could do bad things....but you can always unpack it and see what it is going to do...

[kpedersen]

Hello All,

This topic is of quite some interest to me. recently I did install a ubuntu package on a Lenny install, it was IBM Lotus Symphony 1.0 and 3.0 beta 2.

Everything worked pretty well and as I recall, I didn't have to force dpkg.

Then again, I used the same package (extracted) on slackware and after a LOT of "tweaking", it worked pretty nicely on there too.

So... my suggestion is, if you are hard up for a package and you cannot / don't want to make a debian one, try a ubuntu one on a virtual machine first lol.

What I tend to do if no package is avaliable is extract a package (for a different distro) and its required dependencies into a self contained folder in /opt and create a simple bash script to set PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH etc... Obviously there are sometimes problems with hard-coded paths and I cannot quite be bothered to get out my hex editor haha.

[AdrianTM]

but you talked about using apt....which implies mixing repos...which implies letting it satisfy dependencies....which implies....b0rk3d

but even a simple deb could do bad things....but you can always unpack it and see what it is going to do...

But I actually said "APT", that means dpkg and other tools. APT is the backend it doesn't mean using "apt-get". But you could use apt-get too if you pull only one package and make sure it doesn't change/install others.

[refracta]

sure.....sure......uh huh..... the fine art of backpedaling

[AdrianTM]

sure.....sure......uh huh..... the fine art of backpedaling

Somebody lacks the fine art of reading, paying attention and understanding... I stand by my words. I actually very carefully wrote "APT" each time in this thread, if you don't know what that means try "man apt", if I wanted to say "apt-get" I would have wrote apt-get not APT. (and again, nothing wrong with apt-get or aptitude as long as you read the prompts and don't do stupid stuff). There's no backpedaling here, I just corrected your misunderstanding.

[refracta]

dpkg is not a part of the apt tools...apt is not part of the dpkg tools.......they are two seperate things...

my lack of understanding...fine art....basic english...and what was that other thing....darn I lost focus....my colon/rectum/anus....not withstanding

[AdrianTM]

You are of course right about apt, I used the word too liberally , but APT, dpkg, aptitude, dselect, or apt-get doesn't change anything I said about installing a package from another distribution. If that's backpedaling so be it...

[refracta]

okay....so what did you actually say? Can you clarify it for me? maybe provide some examples....draw me a picture and explain it like I am 3 since I am so lacking in reading, paying attention, and understanding...

[Absent Minded]

....You can read what Mark Shuttleworth has to say about binary compatibility yourself. Debian is not binary-compatible with Ubuntu.

That of course if you don't have such a distaste (and mental sickness, see my sig) that would stop you behave rationally...

Thank you for that link, it was a good read. I can also say that it inspired me with a "little" bit more respect for Ubuntu even. Although, I am still going to wait to see if future releases are any more stable before I change my stance regarding it.