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Questions tagged [debian]

Note: Questions MUST be programming related. Use this tag only if your question relates to development on Debian using operating system API's or Debian-specific features, or to creating packages in the deb format.

The Debian Project

The Debian Project is a project aimed at providing a complete, all-purpose operating system with free open source software. The term 'Debian' is used for the Linux distribution rather then the project. In its most common form the operating system uses a Linux kernel and is packed with GNU tools (officially naming it "Debian GNU/Linux"). The name Debian comes from the names Debra and Ian Murdock (founder and his wife) (1).

Debian is known for its strict adherence to free software (2), its dependency resolving package manager (DPKG, APT), its stability (there are however releases available with more bleeding-edge software) and ability to run on lots of types of hardware. It has many derivatives (2) including the the very popular Ubuntu ().

What should and should not be asked here

Since Debian generally uses the Linux kernel and software also available for other Linux distributions there is a lot of common ground between these topics.

The debian-tag should be used for questions about

  • Creating packages in the deb format
  • Development on Debian using operating system API's or Debian specific features

For other questions there are more relevant tags, either more general or more specific:

  • Developing on a Debian PC (use a tag for the programming languages or tools you're using instead)
  • Using the command line (use or, preferably, the actual used shell like or )
  • Configuration and administration questions should be asked on Serverfault
  • Questions about using Debian or some of its tools fit better on Superuser or Unix & Linux

Learn more

Index of releases

  • The next release of Debian is codenamed buster — no release date has been set
  • Debian 9 (stretch) — current stable release
  • Debian 8 (jessie) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian 7 (wheezy) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian 6.0 (squeeze) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 (lenny) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (etch) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (sarge) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 (potato) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 (slink) — obsolete stable release
  • Debian GNU/Linux 2.0 (hamm) — obsolete stable release
10202 questions
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Repository 'http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates InRelease' changed its 'Suite' value from 'stable' to 'oldstable'

Some of my GitHub Actions workflows started recently to return this error when installing Chromedriver: Get:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates InRelease [65.4 kB] Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster InRelease [122…
GuiFalourd
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Yarn ERROR: There are no scenarios; must have at least one

I tried to install Yarn and when I used the yarn command I got: 00h00m00s 0/0: : ERROR: There are no scenarios; must have at least one. my yarn --version is 0.32. Why doesn't it work?
Francesco Borzi
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133
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17 answers

Bash script prints "Command Not Found" on empty lines

Every time I run a script using bash scriptname.sh from the command line in Debian, I get Command Not found and then the result of the script. The script works but there is always a Command Not Found statement printed on screen for each empty line.…
David
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129
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10 answers

E: Unable to locate package npm

When I try to install npm with sudo apt-get install npm, I got following error: E: Unable to locate package npm Why can't apt find npm? I'm using Debian 9 and already did run sudo apt-get install nodejs
Jacs
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128
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3 answers

How do I download a package from apt-get without installing it?

I have a computer without a NIC, and I want to install some programs in it via USB memory, but how can I download a program from apt-get without installing it?
Manuel de Leon
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127
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11 answers

How to use the command update-alternatives --config java

I am installing Apache Solr on Linux Debian (Squeeze). I have been instructed to install sun-java jdk 1st. Then am told that I should use the command sudo update-alternatives --config java to make sure that a particular java (sun-java) is the…
user1680916
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10 answers

How to build a Debian/Ubuntu package from source?

I have the source of a program (taken from cvs/svn/git/...) and I'd like to build a Debian/Ubuntu package for it. The package is present in the repositories, but: It is an older version (lacking features I need) I need slightly different compile…
Ryszard Szopa
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117
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5 answers

Python Requests - How to use system ca-certificates (debian/ubuntu)?

I've installed a self-signed root ca cert into debian's /usr/share/ca-certificates/local and installed them with sudo dpkg-reconfigure ca-certificates. At this point true | gnutls-cli mysite.local is happy, and true | openssl s_client -connect…
ThorSummoner
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106
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4 answers

Bash Shell Script - Check for a flag and grab its value

I am trying to make a shell script which is designed to be run like this: script.sh -t application Firstly, in my script I want to check to see if the script has been run with the -t flag. For example if it has been run without the flag like this I…
Jimmy
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11 answers

How to install openjdk-8-jdk on Debian 10 (Buster)?

It seems Debian does not support openjdk-8-jdk anymore due to a security issue. What is the easiest way to install openjdk-8-jdk for Debian 10 (Buster)?
Graham Lee
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105
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5 answers

Rotate mp4 videos without re-encoding

I'm looking for a way to rotate videos shot with my Nexus 4 on my Debian Wheezy sytem. The videos are shot in portrait mode and I would like to rotate them to landscape mode. Preferably the rotation is command-line driven. I have found several…
stedes
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102
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3 answers

What's the difference of section and segment in ELF file format

From wiki Executable and Linkable Format: The segments contain information that is necessary for runtime execution of the file, while sections contain important data for linking and relocation. Any byte in the entire file can be owned by at most…
tsing
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4 answers

How to run a script at a certain time on Linux?

I have a text file containing a specific date and time. I want to be able to run a script at the time specified in that file. How would you achieve that? Create another script that runs in background (sort of a deamon) and checks every second if…
Aaron Ullal
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99
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5 answers

Is there a standard way to create Debian packages for distributing Python programs?

There is a ton of information on how to do this, but since "there is more than one way to skin a cat", and all the tutorials/manuals that cover a bit of the process seem to make certain assumptions which are different from other tutorials, I still…
mac
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99
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13 answers

github: server certificate verification failed

I just created a github account and a repository therein, but when trying to create a local working copy using the recommende url via git clone https://github.com//.git I get an error like fatal: unable to access…
Torsten Crass
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