[HOWTO] - Debian 7 "Wheezy" Min Installation with XFCE

[lkraemer]

Debian 7 "Wheezy" Minimal Installation with XFCE Desktop Version 4.10

UPDATED: 08/02/2013

I chose to download the Debian netinst CD (277 MB) to build my system, then add XFCE Version 4.10 from the "testing" Repo.
Debian has several Repo's and these need a bit of explaination, before proceeding.

Repositories: ------ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian
stable, currently aliased wheezy
backports
testing, currently aliased jessie
unstable, permanently aliased sid
experimental

Mixing Packages from various Repo's isn't advised, since you can break your system. The best practice is to check the backports
for Debian 7 "Wheezy" to see if the updated package exists there, or build the package yourself following the information below.

http://www.howtoforge.com/howto_linux_d ... eckinstall


Build the Xfce Desktop from the SID (unstable) Repo's by using backports, to get Version 4.10

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#C ... _stable.3F

How do I backport a sid package to testing or stable?

Install the Debian source (and the development tools, especially debhelper, devscripts, and build-essential), and then build the package.
Step by step:

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    add a deb-src line for sid to your sources.list
    apt-get update
    apt-get build-dep PACKAGE_NAME
    apt-get -b source PACKAGE_NAME 

The resulting debs should be in the current directory and can be installed with dpkg -i the.deb.
Aren't there already backports...?
Possibly. Check http://backports.debian.org/Packages/ first to see if someone has already done it.


I didn't build the package or locate anything in backports, but chose a different method, using Apt-Pinning.

1. Download and burn Debian 7 "Wheezy" AMD64 netinst CD.

2. Install Debian 7 "Wheezy" AMD64 standard operating system, selecting LAPTOP & STANDARD SYSTEM from the task select Install Menu.
(It is assumed that you have an Internet connection via Ethernet during the install.)
REF:
https://wiki.debian.org/tasksel

3. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list, as root, adding the repo for deb-multimedia.org to the end of the file /etc/apt/sources.list.

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#deb-multimedia.org
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org wheezy main non-free

4. Update the repo's as root, and install deb-multimedia-keyring. Use the instructions from this site when answering the package question:
http://www.deb-multimedia.org/

Since Squeeze you can install this package with apt-get but you need to presse Y when the package ask what to do and do not press return.
A new “apt-get update” is also necessary.

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$ su -
# apt-get update
# apt-get install deb-multimedia-keyring

Next, I did a bit of research on the XFCE package before I started my update. I used the following URL to see what Versions existed in
the various Debian Repo's:
http://packages.debian.org/search?suite ... ords=xfce4

As you can see, XFCE4 Version 4.10 is not in the Backports Repo, but it is available in the Testing Repo. I chose to use this package.
I decided to use Apt-Pinning to Pin the XFCE4 & XFCE4-weather-plugin to the Testing Repo. I also wanted to add user to the sudo
group, so I didn't have to log in as root. You might want to skip this portion on sudo, if you prefer to login as root.

5. Add user to sudo group.
/etc/sudoers file should contain:

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# Allow members of group sudo to execute any command
%sudo   ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

6. As Root, add user to group sudo:

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$ su -
#adduser larry sudo

Logout, then log back in.

7. Verify the groups, user is a member of:

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$ groups user

  larry dialout cdrom floppy sudo audio dip video plugdev netdev bluetooth scanner

8. Verify, and modify /etc/apt/sources.list sources for wheezy
REF's:
https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList
http://debgen.simplylinux.ch/
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html

Example sources.list for Debian 7 "Wheezy"

deb http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main

deb http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy-updates main
deb-src http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy-updates main

deb http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main

With the proper Repo's selected, I used Synaptics to update the install before proceeding with the changes for adding XFCE4.
When my system had finished updating I proceeded to modify the Repo's for the XFCE install from "testing".

Add the following lines to the /etc/apt/sources.list file:

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#XFCE 4.10 - Install from testing repo & Pin to testing repo
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main

9. Create /etc/apt/preferences file, which is used with Pinning.
REF's:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=15612
https://wiki.debian.org/AptPreferences
http://www.argon.org/~roderick/apt-pinning.html
http://carlo17.home.xs4all.nl/howto/debian.html#errata
http://www.howtoforge.com/a-short-intro ... pt-pinning
http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

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Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: xfce4
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 710

Package: xfce4-weather-plugin
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 710

Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 1

10. Update the sources list, verify what will be installed, then install xfce as root:

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#apt-get update
#apt-cache show xfce4
#apt-cache policy
#apt-cache policy xfce4

At this point if you are satisfied that XFCE4 is tagged to install from the "testing" Repo, you may proceed with the install.

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#sudo apt-get -t testing install xfce4 thunar-volman tumbler xfce4-terminal xfce4-power-manager xfce4-screenshooter

NOTE: xfce4-terminal is required because Gnome-Terminal won't work correctly.

11. Install other software packages as needed, as root:

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#apt-get update
#apt-get install psi mc meld bleachbit clamav clamtk docky ddd build-essential
#apt-get install filezilla dosbox xsane gftp wine glabels gparted vlc \
k9copy openshot testdisk xpdf tesseract lshw hwinfo flashplugin-nonfree system-config-printer 

12. Hide the Terminal Menu selection because Gnome-Terminal doesn't function, and xfce4-terminal is now used.

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# cd /usr/share/applications
# gedit exo-terminal-emulator.desktop

Add a line at the end of the file which has:

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NoDisplay=true

Save the file

13. Edit the Menu for Root Terminal - APPLICATIONS MENU -> ACCESSORIES -> ROOT TERMINAL
Right Click on APPLICATIONS MENU, select PROPERTIES, EDIT MENU, ACCESSORIES -> ROOT TERMINAL, select PROPERTIES,
then change the command to:

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gksu /usr/bin/xfce4-terminal

If your system somehow has broken packages, or has held packages you can use aptitude to fix the problems. Basically, aptitude gives you a
list of choices to repair your system, but it just displays the choices ONE at a TIME, with user responses of Y, N, Q (yes, no, quit), for each
displayed choice. In my case the first choice was to keep all current packages, so I answered N, to view the second choice. Finally, the choice
appeared that I thought would be the answer to repair my held packages. So, an answer of N will proceed to the next choice aptitude has available,
with the option of Q to quit at any time. Use man aptitude from a Terminal for more information.

2.2. Basic package management operations
2.2.1. apt-get / apt-cache vs. aptitude

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debia ... de_literal


Larry

[beardedragon]

Thanks for the Info. Didn't use it all, but, the Xfce 4.10 got me there.

[craig_sillva]

Nice how to. You should consider adding a warning / disclaimer about the risks in mixing packges from stable with anything but backports.

http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser#Using_Debian

[kankaren gama-gari]

Thanks, Larry!

May I ask what Display Manager you use (or do you start X without one?)

The reason I ask is, I was doing fine with your method, I had xfce 4.10 installed over wheezy, until I tried to install gdm3, and there were confilcts.

[kankaren gama-gari]

As I have been learning, the conflicts apparently have to do with changes in how user identity is passed from the console to X and to Xfce. Our older xorg (wheezy; 1:7.7+3~deb7u1), does not pass the user information that the newer xfce4 (jessie; 4.10.1) expects.

So the following things are impossible:
. Starting Xfce with login managers like gdm3, slim, xdm etc.
. Automounting of USB drives by Xfce
. Using suspend or hibernate from Xfce
. Printing on the network [**Oh. Uh oh, deal-breaker!**]

I tried installing libpam-ck-connector. It doesn't help; it just generates errors that make it slightly harder to log out. I tried both versions.

Starting from console using startxfce4 works well enough; sometimes takes two tries.

But I'm running into too many limitations. It's almost a good setup, for my old Toshiba laptop. On that machine, it's the only way I can have all three of:
. sound
. graphics at the right resolution
. a working version the absolutely indespensible xfce4-weather-plugin

Due to flagging support for the laptop's AMD/ATI sound and video hardware, I must hold alsa back to the version in wheezy, and I have to use the nearly-end-of-life 2.6.34 kernel. The versions of alsa and of xorg that are in testing, end up breaking things.

So I will go back to straight wheezy, and do without that weather plugin, which has changed so much that I doubt it will be backported.

[lkraemer]

kankaren gama-gari,
In my install I retained gdm as the Desktop Manager. I've done another install using xdm, and have it running in Virtualbox. I wanted to also try slim,
but haven't done that yet.

The weather plugin doesn't get (or update) the data, but I've decided to just live without the temperatures etc. No big deal.

. Printing on the network [**Oh. Uh oh, deal-breaker!**]-------------
My printing works just fine over the LAN. I've got NAS4Free (old Win box) setup with a USB Printer, and I can print to it via Wifi from any Laptop.
(I just installed: system-config-printer)

. Using suspend or hibernate from Xfce.-------------
I don't use these features.

. Starting Xfce with login managers like gdm3, slim, xdm etc.-------------
Run these commands to enable (1) autostarting Xfce right after you log in and (2) shutdown as normal user.
This assumes ./bash_login does NOT exist. I am using my username: "larry" in this example, change it to yours.

# cat > /home/larry/.bash_login
if [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ] ; then
startxfce4
fi

also needed:
# addgroup larry powerdev


. Automounting of USB drives by Xfce-------------
make sure that you are member of the plugdev group with the "id" command with the regular user, in case you aren't add your user to
it with useradd -G plugdev username.

1) Ensure you have this package installed
thunar-volman

2) Applications Menu -> Settings -> Session and Startup
Tab to Application Autostart
tick box for XFCE Volume Daemon

3) Applications Menu -> Settings ->Removable Drives and Media
tick box Mount removable media when inserted
(I have 1st and 3rd boxes - ticked)

4) When you insert an USB stick or removable data disc you are likely to get a notification dialog box and in Thunar contents are now viewable.

OPTIONAL
5) In the settings box (4)
tick Browse removable media when inserted
Causes any usb stick etc when inserted to auto load Thunar at the relevant folder.

Some people may prefer to not use this as you lose focus on your current task.
YMMV

6) Use the icon in Thunar to "umount" removable media or "eject" optical media


Larry

[kankaren gama-gari]

Larry, thanks for the detailed reply, and the tip about autostarting X.

My xfce4-weather-plugin is working. It needs to be the latest: 0.8.3-1.

I'm curious; could you please tell me your xorg version? Also, your alsa-base version?

I'm surprised you are not experiencing those issues, and it gets me wondering, are we both on the same xorg version? Here's mine:

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# apt-cache policy xorg
  xorg:
    Installed: 1:7.7+3~deb7u1
    Candidate: 1:7.7+3~deb7u1
    Version table:
       1:7.7+4 0
            1 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing/main i386 Packages
   *** 1:7.7+3~deb7u1 0
          700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy/main i386 Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

In other words, I'm using the wheezy xorg. Along with the jessie xfce4:

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# apt-cache policy xfce4
  xfce4:
    Installed: 4.10.1
    Candidate: 4.10.1
    Package pin: 4.10.1
    Version table:
   *** 4.10.1 710
            1 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing/main i386 Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
       4.8.0.3 710
          700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy/main i386 Packages

It never occured to me before I read your post, to try this ad-hoc backport of the entire testing version of xfce4, on top of a wheezy stable system, with a wheezy stable xorg. I assumed that is what you are doing too, but you did not actually tell how you installed xorg. Is your xorg possibly at testing? I think that would explain why you don't have the same issues.

The problems I listed have something in common: they produce similar error messages, that say the user is not identified, or not authorized. Like when I insert a USB drive (I do have thunar-volman installed; it's at testing, 0.8.0-2), the drive shows up on the desktop and in thunar, but an error dialog pops up:

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      Failed to mount "kankarens-usb-drive".
      Not authorized:
      GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown:
      The name org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 was not provided
      by any .service files.
                                            [ (x) Close ]

As far as I understand it, I think that as a result of my non-matching xorg and xfce4 versions, some services don't receive the user authentification they need.

I don't use suspend and hibernate either (they never worked on this laptop), but what is unique about this installation, is that the buttons for suspend and hibernate are not there, in the logout dialog.

I'd like to run xfce 4.10 on top of the wheezy xorg, and wheezy alsa-base, because the jessie xorg, and jessie alsa, don't work with my ancient video and sound hardware on this laptop.

Thanks again!

[lkraemer]

kankaren gama-gari,
Here is mine.
apt-cache policy xorg

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xorg:
  Installed: 1:7.7+3~deb7u1
  Candidate: 1:7.7+3~deb7u1
  Version table:
     1:7.7+4 0
          1 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main amd64 Packages
 *** 1:7.7+3~deb7u1 0
        700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

apt-cache policy xfce4

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xfce4:
  Installed: 4.10.1
  Candidate: 4.10.1
  Package pin: 4.10.1
  Version table:
 *** 4.10.1 710
          1 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4.8.0.3 710
        700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable/main amd64 Packages

apt-cache policy alsa-base

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alsa-base:
  Installed: 1.0.25+3~deb7u1
  Candidate: 1.0.25+3~deb7u1
  Version table:
     1.0.25+3 0
          1 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main amd64 Packages
 *** 1.0.25+3~deb7u1 0
        700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

apt-cache policy thunar-volman

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thunar-volman:
  Installed: 0.8.0-1
  Candidate: 0.8.0-1
  Version table:
     0.8.0-2 0
          1 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main amd64 Packages
 *** 0.8.0-1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.6.1-1 0
        700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable/main amd64 Packages

apt-cache policy xfce4-weather-plugin

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xfce4-weather-plugin:
  Installed: 0.8.3-1
  Candidate: 0.8.3-1
  Package pin: 0.8.3-1
  Version table:
 *** 0.8.3-1 710
          1 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.7.4-3+b1 710
        700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable/main amd64 Packages

Here is what I have for:
id

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uid=1000(larry) gid=1000(larry) groups=1000(larry),24(cdrom),25(floppy),27(sudo),29(audio),30(dip),44(video),46(plugdev),105(scanner),110(bluetooth),112(netdev),123(vboxusers)

groups

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larry cdrom floppy sudo audio dip video plugdev scanner bluetooth netdev vboxusers

The only other thing I could possibly think of would be I started with Wheezy 7.0 and built my system before any other versions were released.
You probably started with a later release.


Larry

[kankaren gama-gari]

Thanks, Larry! I think that is really interesting. Your system looks like it should be about the same as mine, yet everything works that's broken on mine. Conversely, your weather-plugin is broken, while mine works.

You're right that I started with a later wheezy release: antiX_13.1_386_core-libre. I've been assuming AntiX would work the same; I've looked at the repos and packages, and it looks to me like AntiX core is all Debian, except it has its own build of the kernel, and it adds a couple of utility scripts.

Maybe I'll find & download the original Pure Debian Wheezy, and try it again. If I do, I'll post results here.

Regards!

[kankaren gama-gari]

I just learned that one of the issues I listed, no automounting, was because I was starting the desktop with startx (or startxfce4), instead of using a dm. (So it was not what I suspected, the backporting of Xfce4.) Fix is here:

http://www.ab9il.net/linux/pcmanfm-usb-mount.html

Setting Polkit for USB Automounting
Tweaking Polkit's Most Annoying Trait...

There are some rather annoying problems ... under a stripped down Debian ... environment. Topping the list, and fixed below, is the issue of automounting USB plug in storage devices. As a normal (not root) user, plugging in a USB stick or SD card results in a "Not Authorized" message and denial of access to the device. ... Policy Kit (aka "Polkit") is the main culprit here, and requires some tweaking to grant access to the normal user...

Carry out these actions as root:
1. Open your file manager and navigate to the directory /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/
2. Create a blank file named 55-storage.pkla
3. Edit /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/55-storage.pkla to contain the following commands:

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[Storage Permissions]
Identity=unix-group:plugdev
Action=org.freedesktop.udisks.filesystem-mount;org.freedesktop.udisks.drive-eject;org.freedesktop.udisks.drive-detach;org.freedesktop.udisks.luks-unlock;org.freedesktop.udisks.inhibit-polling;org.freedesktop.udisks.drive-set-spindown
ResultAny=yes
ResultActive=yes
ResultInactive=no

When the file is saved, polkit will detect it and reconfigure user permissions.

4. Add your user id to the group plugdev with the following usermod command:

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usermod -a -G plugdev YOUR-USER-ID

5. Log out and Log in (or reboot) and the new settings will be fully in effect.

[marrygoodwill]

To install Xfce on debian 7 wheezy

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# apt-get install xorg xfce4 xfce4-goodies thunar-archive-plugin synaptic gdebi wicd

To install extra XFCE packages

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# apt-get install xdg-utils xfce4-power-manager xfce4-goodies htop bzip2 zip unzip unrar-free

Source: http://namhuy.net/1085/install-gui-on-d ... heezy.html