HOWTO:Install downloaded DEB packages and their dependencies

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jobezone · #1 Post by **jobezone** » 2005-09-09 21:54

Only two commands are needed to install a deb packages and have its dependencies automatically taken care of (if they are available in your repositories).
The first command will unpack the package, and most probably give an error of missing dependencies.
The second command instructs apt-get to fix this problem. If these dependencies are available in the repositories, it will install them, and sucessfully finish the installation of downloaded_package.deb.
They both have to be run as root or using sudo.

Code: Select all

dpkg -i downloaded_package.deb
apt-get -f install

If you are not too knowledgable yet with apt-get, dpkg, or Debian for that matter, get your new software from the oficial Debian repositories as much as you can (using Synaptic or apt-get). It has been reviewed, packaged and tested to integrate well with your Debian system.

Jeroen · #2 Post by **Jeroen** » 2005-09-10 02:18

Note that sometimes a packages post-installation script requires the dependencies to be available. This way of installing a package can easily fail because of that.

You might be able to recover by installating the .deb again after apt-get -f install.

Also apt-get -f install might be unable to fix the situation.

Unfortunately, there is no really easy way to do this, none of the package manager frontends I know of having support for directly installing a .deb. You could use dpkg-scanpackages to generate a Packages file of a directory full of .deb's, and add that local directory to your apt config, but that's a bit involved.

Generally, if possible, it's best to simply add a sources.list entry to the repository in question. This will also get you automatically any updates made.

jobezone · #3 Post by **jobezone** » 2005-09-10 09:29

Thanks for the tips. I rarely install individual deb's myself, but when I do, running apt-get -f install can ease some of the work of manually installing many different packages, and that's why I mentioned it here.

pcalvert · #4 Post by **pcalvert** » 2006-05-26 22:28

This might be a better approach:

How to use APT locally
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-h ... anpackages

It would be nice if someone knowledgeable would try that out and then post a How-To explaining the method in plain English.

Phil

bexley · #5 Post by **bexley** » 2006-06-07 11:03

yes i read that, what the hell is an overide file? it would have been good if the author had elaborated on that part as the rest of it doesnt work.

maybe somone here can help me?

i am trying to install thi s .deb i downloaded "evolution-exchange_2.6.1-1_i386.deb" but it has a crap load of dependencies (abotu 30 or 40 libs) and i want to use apt-get to go and solve the dependancies for me so i dont have to download and install them all manually.

any ideas?

Lavene · #6 Post by **Lavene** » 2006-06-07 16:37

There is some info about override files here and here.

I'm sure there is more out there... Google probably know a few

Tina

jobezone · #7 Post by **jobezone** » 2006-06-07 16:47

Lavene wrote:There is some info about override files here and here.

I'm sure there is more out there... Google probably know a few

Tina

I've installed debian etch this weekend, and the Desktop task includes gdebi, a visual installer of deb's. It does more than just 'dpkg -i package.deb'. It checks the dependencies, and warns if a newer or older version of the package is available in the configured repositories. It's being developed by Ubuntu people.