Is it possible to install Debian 6 (Squeeze) nowadays?

[negora]

Hi:

I need to reproduce an environment similar to one of my old machines. So I've to install Debian 6 (Squeeze) and some packages.

I've downloaded the network installer (the "mini.iso") from "archive.debian.org". But, when it's time to install the kernel, the process fails. I've checked the logs, and it seems that the packages can not be authenticated:

WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!

I guess that it's because the public keys have expired. Is there a way to force the installation? Like when you force it from the command line with "apt-get".

Thank you in advance.

[Bulkley]

Just for kicks I downloaded debian-6.0.9-amd64-DVD-1.iso from https://archive.org/details/Debian_6.0.9 and installed it in virtual. It works as expected.

[negora]

Just for kicks I downloaded debian-6.0.9-amd64-DVD-1.iso from https://archive.org/details/Debian_6.0.9 and installed it in virtual. It works as expected.

Thank you for your answer. You made my day .

When I first looked for ISOs at archive.debian.org, I only found the "mini.iso". So I thought that was it. But after reading your message, I've decided to look for the DVD 1 in an official source, and I've found this: Debian Images Archive. I didn't know that the Debian Images Team had an archive of old releases. That's gold to me.

Sincerely, I also had no idea that I could install from CD 1 or DVD 1 without the rest of the collection. I've tried and it has worked well. But I've had to skip the setting of a network mirror, obviously.

Now that I've a bootable system, I've been able to check that the public keys were effectively expired. I've added "archive.debian.org" as a network mirror and have started to install all the software that I need, skipping the validation.

Again, thank you.

[SpaceFlier]

Sorry for replying after so long, but I'm completly stuck trying to remove the GPG check, no matter what I do it still runs the check and fails updates. How did you skip validation?

[fabien]

Hello, welcome to the forums!

no matter what I do

What exactly did you do? What installation media did you use?

[SpaceFlier]

I used the same DVD-1 installation iso that negora used, it is virtualised on proxmox, not sure that makes a big difference for this problem though, and I've tried every single Google link that comes up, ranging from adding [trusted=yes] into the source, running with the --allow-unauthenticated cl flag, this command: apt-get -o Acquire::Check-Valid-Until=false update, creating a file in apt.conf.d which has this: APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated "true";. So far, none of them have stopped the checking, nor making the check just a warning, and I've even tried flags from newer versions of apt that are unrecognised, like --allow-source-mismatch. I don't have much experience with this but I was thinking if I could modify the files for apt-get and manually delete the gpg check?

[sunrat]

You need to change the sources to Debian archive if you want to install any packages.

[SpaceFlier]

Yes, I have, my sources.list file has the archive.
my sources.list file looks like this:

Code: Select all

#

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.10 _Squeeze_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20140719-13:06]/ squeeze contrib main

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.10 _Squeeze_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20140719-13:06]/ squeeze contrib main
deb [trusted=yes] http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze contrib main non-free
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib

The full error output of apt-get --allow-unauthenticated update is this:

Code: Select all

 apt-get --allow-unauthenticated update
Get:1 http://archive.debian.org squeeze Release.gpg [1,655 B]
Ign http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en
Ign http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en_AU
Ign http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze/main Translation-en
Ign http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze/main Translation-en_AU
Ign http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze/non-free Translation-en
Ign http://archive.debian.org/debian/ squeeze/non-free Translation-en_AU
Get:2 http://archive.debian.org squeeze Release [96.0 kB]
Ign http://archive.debian.org squeeze Release
Ign http://archive.debian.org squeeze/contrib amd64 Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://archive.debian.org squeeze/main amd64 Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://archive.debian.org squeeze/non-free amd64 Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://archive.debian.org squeeze/contrib amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.debian.org squeeze/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://archive.debian.org squeeze/non-free amd64 Packages
Fetched 1,656 B in 3s (514 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://archive.debian.org squeeze Release: The following signatures were invalid: KEYEXPIRED 1520281423 KEYEXPIRED 1501892461

[fabien]

adding [trusted=yes] into the source, running with the --allow-unauthenticated cl flag, this command: apt-get -o Acquire::Check-Valid-Until=false update, creating a file in apt.conf.d which has this: APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated "true";. So far, none of them have stopped the checking

The option should be --allow-insecure-repositories

--allow-insecure-repositories
Allow the update command to acquire unverifiable data from configured sources. APT will otherwise fail at the update command for repositories without valid cryptographically signatures. See
also apt-secure(8) for details on the concept and the implications. Configuration Item: Acquire::AllowInsecureRepositories.

but it was introduced in Debian 8 Jessie.
Unsupported systems shouldn't be connected to the Internet anyway.

--allow-unauthenticated is for installing packages

--allow-unauthenticated
Ignore if packages can't be authenticated and don't prompt about it. This can be useful while working with local repositories, but is a huge security risk if data authenticity isn't ensured
in another way by the user itself. The usage of the Trusted option for sources.list(5) entries should usually be preferred over this global override. Configuration Item:
APT::Get::AllowUnauthenticated.

I'll take a look and let you know the best solution I found.

[sunrat]

As fabien said, Squeeze should not be connected to the internet.
You may be able to download any required packages on another system and install them locally.

You have probably done some searching but - https://linux.debian.user.narkive.com/P ... er-release

[fabien]

As fabien said, Squeeze should not be connected to the internet.
You may be able to download any required packages on another system and install them locally.

So here is the secure but practical method (because it allows easy installations) that I found.

- Install Squeeze without configuring the network
- Create a directory for DVD ISOs

Code: Select all

#> mkdir /var/aptiso

- Copy the ISOs you need

Code: Select all

$> ls -lh /var/aptiso/
total 8.8G
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.4G Jul 19  2014 debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-1.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.4G Jul 19  2014 debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-2.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  974 Jul 20  2014 SHA256SUMS

- Create mount points

Code: Select all

#> mkdir /mnt/debDVD0{1,2}

- Edit fstab

Code: Select all

$> cat /etc/fstab
proc                                            /proc             proc        defaults             0 0
# / was on /dev/vda1 during installation
UUID=27ec377b-f2bf-4fea-86c1-1633b45a3415       /                 ext3        errors=remount-ro	   0 1
# swap was on /dev/vda5 during installation
UUID=050a54f4-1a5e-4fe9-b0fa-05e667cccf74	none              swap        sw                   0 0
/dev/scd0                                       /media/cdrom0     udf,iso9660 user,noauto          0 0

/var/aptiso/debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-1.iso       /mnt/debDVD01     iso9660     ro,loop              0 0
/var/aptiso/debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-2.iso       /mnt/debDVD02     iso9660     ro,loop              0 0

Code: Select all

$> mount
/dev/vda1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/loop0 on /mnt/debDVD01 type iso9660 (ro)
/dev/loop1 on /mnt/debDVD02 type iso9660 (ro)

$> ls -l /mnt/debDVD01/
total 1220
-r--r--r-- 1 root root     27 19 juil.  2014 autorun.inf
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 css
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root      1 19 juil.  2014 debian -> .
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 dists
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4096 19 juil.  2014 doc
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 firmware
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 109968 15 juil.  2014 g2ldr
-r--r--r-- 1 root root   8192 15 juil.  2014 g2ldr.mbr
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 install
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 install.amd
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   4096 19 juil.  2014 isolinux
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 498198 19 juil.  2014 md5sum.txt
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 pics
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 pool
-r--r--r-- 1 root root   9487 19 juil.  2014 README.html
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 177942 19 juin   2014 README.mirrors.html
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  91218 19 juin   2014 README.mirrors.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root    398 19 juil.  2014 README.source
-r--r--r-- 1 root root   6005 19 juil.  2014 README.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 319552 15 juil.  2014 setup.exe
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root   2048 19 juil.  2014 tools
-r--r--r-- 1 root root    242 19 juil.  2014 win32-loader.ini

- edit /etc/apt/sources.list

Code: Select all

$> cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.10 _Squeeze_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20140719-13:06]/ squeeze contrib main
#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.10 _Squeeze_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 20140719-13:06]/ squeeze contrib main

deb file:///mnt/debDVD01 squeeze main contrib
deb file:///mnt/debDVD02 squeeze main contrib

- update APT database

Code: Select all

#> apt-get update
Ign file: squeeze Release.gpg
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD01/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD01/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD01/ squeeze/main Translation-en
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD01/ squeeze/main Translation-en_US
Ign file: squeeze Release.gpg
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD02/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD02/ squeeze/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD02/ squeeze/main Translation-en
Ign file:/mnt/debDVD02/ squeeze/main Translation-en_US
Get:1 file: squeeze Release [4,249 B]
Get:2 file: squeeze Release [3,269 B]
Reading package lists... Done

- install packages

Code: Select all

#> apt-get -V install vim
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
   vim-runtime (7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1)
Suggested packages:
   ctags ()
   vim-doc ()
   vim-scripts ()
The following NEW packages will be installed:
   vim (7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1)
   vim-runtime (7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1)
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/7,122 kB of archives.
After this operation, 27.8 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  vim-runtime vim
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
Selecting previously deselected package vim-runtime.
(Reading database ... 24098 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking vim-runtime (from .../vim-runtime_7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1_all.deb) ...
Adding 'diversion of /usr/share/vim/vim72/doc/help.txt to /usr/share/vim/vim72/doc/help.txt.vim-tiny by vim-runtime'
Adding 'diversion of /usr/share/vim/vim72/doc/tags to /usr/share/vim/vim72/doc/tags.vim-tiny by vim-runtime'
Selecting previously deselected package vim.
Unpacking vim (from .../vim_7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1_amd64.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up vim-runtime (2:7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1) ...
Processing /usr/share/vim/addons/doc
Setting up vim (2:7.2.445+hg~cb94c42c0e1a-1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/vim (vim) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/vimdiff (vimdiff) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/rvim (rvim) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/rview (rview) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/vi (vi) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/view (view) in auto mode.
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/ex (ex) in auto mode.

Note the warning:

Code: Select all

WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!

Therefore, it is important to verify the ISOs:

Code: Select all

$> sha256sum /var/aptiso/debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-1.iso
2603ef028f3419a0a671b316d9e6130e32788eb33711ac466f806aebc7877efd  /var/aptiso/debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-1.iso

$> cat /var/aptiso/SHA256SUMS 
2603ef028f3419a0a671b316d9e6130e32788eb33711ac466f806aebc7877efd  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-1.iso
69a49253bcd46a59fcccba109c16e06b57a390fa3d78cb9fcf69b6d328ff4925  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-2.iso
ec401d5f5090bd7a22a4b247b8f92f5ccf591bcebada7341afe510c78615ca7e  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-3.iso
c5a570e541b0b64ee7f6d2241a49230bb75f176278dce60b65775b377c48496e  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-4.iso
1694c0755ac50b7e15c4025d41fdb617b3a7dc1548ed89f717a9826a17d506b2  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-5.iso
d11ee505a721485eedd073bd1465072840fbe11e1cd944a82ada649e174f019e  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-6.iso
fdd3f540080485f975e6c0a7f7ac02fa7edb3ca8ea31372106297c2e5ccd9133  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-7.iso
4ef96a4bbe612799e1dbe1766bf51b0b1f107e967b19b2e51e625f80dc255e14  debian-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-8.iso
23ca4662297bbf92e8d3e3fef114e65577b5707127826e197e286b35ffcfba4e  debian-update-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-1.iso
eef54ef8eecd474c7adcfe3629fb69e92f9a2cf9e0c93fb056c67922ea64cea4  debian-update-6.0.10-amd64-DVD-2.iso

HTH

[SpaceFlier]

Thanks for that, I'll try installing packages that way. Just one question, DVDs went out just as I started to really get my hands dirty in the computer space, the only thing I know iso's for is to install and operating system on a flash drive. On the Debian archive there were 10 disks for squeeze 6.10, I installed disk 1, and you specify using disk 1 and 2 as apt sources, what exactly are these dvd files, and when you put the 10 together do they collectively make up most of the apt sources of that time, or are they slightly different versions which have preloaded different packages?

[fabien]

On the Debian archive there were 10 disks for squeeze 6.10, I installed disk 1, and you specify using disk 1 and 2 as apt sources, what exactly are these dvd files, and when you put the 10 together do they collectively make up most of the apt sources of that time, or are they slightly different versions which have preloaded different packages?

Together, these DVD ISOs constitute the entire official release of Debian 6 Squeeze (10th update). When you installed it connected to the Internet back then, you only needed a small installation media because the missing packages were downloaded over the network. Since it is now impossible to securely install it over the internet, you need a local copy of the repository. I simply copied the first two ISOs in my example, but you need all the ISOs if you want the full distribution.
The first CD contains the most important packages (same for the DVD but with more packages). It allows at least a minimal installation with the most important packages for a working base system.
Debian was always designed to be installable without a network. You burned all the DVDs, used apt-cdrom to register them, and apt asked you for the DVD it needed to install a package. When there are many dependencies, this may require changing DVDs multiple times. Copying ISOs locally avoids this.