[SOLVED] Cannot install anything through console

[debiannoobie]

Hello,
I tried to install OpenJDK (and few other softwares) but all of them fail. Console gives me this:

root@debian:/home/user# apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
libice-dev libpthread-stubs0-dev libsm-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev libxcb1-dev libxdmcp-dev libxt-dev openjdk-8-jdk-headless
openjdk-8-jre openjdk-8-jre-headless x11proto-core-dev x11proto-dev xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev
Suggested packages:
libice-doc libsm-doc libx11-doc libxcb-doc libxt-doc openjdk-8-demo openjdk-8-source visualvm icedtea-8-plugin
fonts-ipafont-gothic fonts-ipafont-mincho fonts-wqy-microhei fonts-wqy-zenhei fonts-indic
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libice-dev libpthread-stubs0-dev libsm-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev libxcb1-dev libxdmcp-dev libxt-dev openjdk-8-jdk
openjdk-8-jdk-headless openjdk-8-jre openjdk-8-jre-headless x11proto-core-dev x11proto-dev xorg-sgml-doctools xtrans-dev
0 upgraded, 16 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/37.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 147 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
dpkg: warning: 'ldconfig' not found in PATH or not executable
dpkg: warning: 'start-stop-daemon' not found in PATH or not executable
dpkg: error: 2 expected programs not found in PATH or not executable
Note: root's PATH should usually contain /usr/local/sbin, /usr/sbin and /sbin
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)

I tried everything I could think of but I cannot get it working.
I really would appreciate if someone tells me what to do.
Thanks

[bw123]

It's okay, you have probably installed testing by mistake. You can either use stable instead, or learn the new way of using 'su -' with a dash, or maybe 'su --login root' instead of just su.

Search the forum if you want some details, it's been covered pretty well in several threads. The man page for su also has a good explanation.

Have fun!

[debiannoobie]

It's okay, you have probably installed testing by mistake. You can either use stable instead, or learn the new way of using 'su -' with a dash, or maybe 'su --login root' instead of just su.

Search the forum if you want some details, it's been covered pretty well in several threads. The man page for su also has a good explanation.

Have fun!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Yeah, I forgot to tell that I was on testing.
'su -' worked perfectly. Now I'll look into what is the difference between 'su' and 'su -'.

[bw123]

There might be 'release notes' for buster already, but I haven't checked. Stuff like this will probably be mentioned. I'd definitely read up for clues about any other changes in it.

[stevepusser]

Excuse me, but I don't understand. Since the OP issued the apt command from a root terminal, wasn't switching to root successful in the first place? Or does just "su" in Buster fool you into thinking you're now root when you're really not?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

does just "su" in Buster fool you into thinking you're now root when you're really not?

No, plain `su` still gives a root shell but $PATH is set incorrectly unless `su -` is passed.