Questions tagged [debian]
Questions specific to the Debian official distribution (stable, testing, or unstable); if you are using a derivative of Debian (e.g. Mint, Ubuntu, Kali, etc), then use that distribution’s tag instead.
1,556
questions
81
votes
7
answers
66k
views
What directories do I need to back up?
What are the directories one should back up, in order to have a backup of all user-generated files?
From a vanilla debian install, I can do enough apt to get the packages that I want. So if I don't ...
- 13.9k
75
votes
3
answers
140k
views
Can I rollback an apt-get upgrade if something goes wrong?
Is there a way, before starting an aptitude upgrade or apt-get upgrade, to set up something so that you can "easily" rollback your system to the "apt" state it was before the actual upgrade, if ...
- 18.7k
55
votes
5
answers
110k
views
How to disable X server autostart in Debian Jessie?
I have a remote machine running Debian 8 (Jessie) with lightdm installed. I want it to start in no-GUI mode, but I don't want to remove all X-related stuff to still be able to run it though SSH with ...
- 553
48
votes
1
answer
19k
views
How does apt-get really work?
Okay, I understand how I may use apt-get {install|remove} mypackages and apt-get upgrade to install, upgrade, or remove binaries as well as their configuration data files and dependencies (actually, ...
- 1,827
46
votes
6
answers
18k
views
Why is it that my initrd only has one directory, namely, 'kernel'?
I'm using debian live-build to work on a bootable system. By the end of the process i get the typical files used to boot a live system: a squashfs file, some GRUB modules and config files, and an ...
- 773
40
votes
8
answers
129k
views
Activate tap to click on touchpad?
I am using Debian 8.6 LXDE on a Powerbook G4 15" 1.67GHz and would like to enable tap to click on the touchpad. It is already double scrolling but tap to click would help to save the ageing mouse ...
- 447
39
votes
1
answer
4k
views
How do Ubuntu and Debian manage $HOME for users with sudo privileges?
I have a bash script myhome.sh containing only one line:
echo $HOME
The script's owner is a user:
$ ls -l myhome.sh
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user <date> <time> myhome.sh
In Ubuntu 16.04 and ...
- 639
38
votes
5
answers
41k
views
/usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store causes very heavy CPU load on Debian "Buster"
After the last upgrade on:
Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux buster/sid
Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-2-686-pae
Architecture: x86
/usr/lib/tracker/tracker-store eats a huge load of CPU.
...
- 5,270
34
votes
6
answers
63k
views
How to completely disable swap?
I am using Debian sid, hard drive formatted with ext4, running on linux 3.1
I remember on previous linux versions (maybe before 3.0), if I run out of memory, and swap is not enabled, programs will ...
- 753
30
votes
5
answers
16k
views
How to implement package install suggestion on Debian?
I have noticed that while on Ubuntu, if I type the following:
mc
and it isn't installed, I get the message below:
The program 'mc' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-...
- 882
27
votes
3
answers
32k
views
How can I find the package that contains a program in Debian? [duplicate]
I am using a minimal Debian system which does not have the top program installed. I tried to install top with sudo apt-get install top, but top is not a package name.
It seems that top is a part of ...
- 627
27
votes
2
answers
76k
views
Is it possible to have multiple default gateways for outbound connections?
I would like to have multiple NICs (eth0 and wlan0) in the same subnet and to serve as a backup for the applications on the host if one of the NICs fail. For this reason I have created an additional ...
- 933
21
votes
1
answer
23k
views
UEFI + BIOS bootable live Debian stretch amd64 with persistence
All of the information I currently find on this matter is insufficient for my taste. It is either outdated, misleading or even wrong, seems overly complicated or not covering this specific question.
...
- 1,277
20
votes
3
answers
58k
views
Can not resolve .local domains internal to my office LAN
On Linux Debian 9 I am able to resolve a specific local domain e.g. my.sample-domain.local using some commands like nslookup or host, but not with some other commands like ping or the Postgres client ...
- 425
20
votes
4
answers
28k
views
scp from one remote server to another remote server
I have one big file on server one and I want to copy it to server two using scp. I have the keys setup properly and I can ssh/scp to both servers from my desktop.
The file I need to copy is larger ...
- 551
19
votes
6
answers
94k
views
How to boot Debian into text mode without using GUI?
How can I boot Debian into text mode? My mouse and keyboard are working in GRUB, but when the login screen appears they don't, so I can't do anything.
Michal
17
votes
1
answer
12k
views
Installing two glibc alongside in debian/ubuntu
Is it possible to install and use two different glibc versions on the same machine. Where one version is only used to run legacy software, which relies on old glibc binaries?
Is it possible to do ...
- 3,121
16
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Host name changed remotely by wifi?
Am am currently visiting TU Wien and today I connected my Debian Linux laptop to their eduroam wlan using wpa_supplicant and the credentials of my home institute - as always when I am visiting another ...
- 263
14
votes
2
answers
17k
views
How to make apt ignore unfulfilled dependencies of installed package?
I installed Opera 12.16 from a .deb for reasons. Just assume that I need this specific browser of this specific version and that there’s no alternative.
However, that deb depends on packages (such as ...
- 1,733
13
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How to know the source repository of a package in debian?
In Debian, AFAIK some packages are maintained in Subversion (famously team-pkg-gnome), while some are maintained in git, and others in some other VCS.
Is there a way to know where the source of a ...
- 11.7k
12
votes
4
answers
19k
views
apt-get - autoremove wants to uninstall Gnome
As empathy 2.30 in Debian Wheezy didn't meet all my preferences I tried out empathy 3.1 from experimental, using the command:
apt-get -t experimental install empathy
I had to find out, this version ...
- 1,104
12
votes
5
answers
25k
views
How can I make xrandr changes persist?
I run this command to allow me to move windows between screens:
xrandr --auto
This magic command fixes my screen for me (before I run this my 2nd monitor is just an empty space where I can move my ...
- 4,011
8
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How to get ALL kinds of reverse package dependencies: reverse-depends pendant for non-Ubuntu distributions
I would like to find all possible reverse dependencies (no need for recursive reverse dependencies) of a certain package p, that is, I want to find all packages which depend on p. This shall include ...
- 317
8
votes
2
answers
3k
views
hard disks spin up by processes / applications that simply get a list of disks? How to prevent?
I have a 24/7 always-on Debian Jessie based headless home server that has a large 1TB SSD for the OS and all of my frequently accessed files. This same system has 4 larger hard disk drives in a ...
- 183
8
votes
3
answers
20k
views
Missing init.d/apache2 file [duplicate]
After trying to delete apache and tomcat, and now trying to reinstall apache 2, I am missing the init.d/apache2 file to start/stop my server.
I am not sure if the new install actualy worked, and my ...
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Create a .deb package with only dependencies
I have a piece of software that comes as a deb package or as source. I would like to install it from source so I can install it in a non-standard directory, but would like to use apt for dependency ...
- 171
7
votes
3
answers
793
views
What do the different version elements specify in debian package name?
In Debian, I found many different packet versioning, do you know what they stand for?
For example :
bind9 1:9.7.3.dfsg-1~squeeze11
What do 9.7.3, dfsg-1 and squeeze11 stand for?
- 373
7
votes
2
answers
8k
views
change terminal title
I want to make a shell alias that starts a certain program and also changes the title of the terminal to the name of the program. How can I do that?
In case it matters, I am running the terminal on ...
- 1,287
7
votes
2
answers
18k
views
Get newest gcc for debian?
I can't build my apps on gcc since I use various c++0x features. I'm on Debian 6 (Lenny) and after upgrade/updating I have gcc version 4.4.5-8. I'm unsure which version is required but mingw 4.6.2 ...
user4069
6
votes
3
answers
22k
views
how to upgrade a single package in debian
I'm currently running debian 8 and I want to upgrade security patches which is provided by debian but problem is that, if I upgrade a single package then it asks to upgrade many packages, as in:
$ ...
- 553
6
votes
2
answers
10k
views
Openssl upgraded via apt-get, `openssl version` showing previous version
I am running Debian Wheezy. I have just upgraded my system and should have the latest version of openssl (1.0.1g which fixes a critical bug), but it does not appear to be being used.
I have run:
apt-...
- 61
6
votes
2
answers
12k
views
How to put rtlwifi drivers on Debian installation USB?
I downloaded the Debian amd64 netinstall ISO and placed it on a USB stick using
dd if=debianblahblah.iso of=/dev/sdb
The installer works fine, but my laptop requires proprietary wireless drivers (...
- 2,635
6
votes
4
answers
20k
views
VPN SSL Network Extender in Firefox
I need to connect from a Debian Stretch amd64 VM to a CheckPoint corporate VPN.
I am using it from the customer point of view, and do not know much technical details about the server side. I am ...
- 55.1k
6
votes
3
answers
55k
views
Installing missing firmware in debian
During installation I got a few pop ups stating that hardware needs non-free firmware files to operate. At that time I didn't have those files so I continued with the installation, but now my now ...
5
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Problem with locale: "Setting locale failed."
I have a problem with locale and I can't found any solution that works!
Every tutorial is similar to this: Perl warning Setting locale failed in Debian.
This is the problem with locale:
pi @ server [~]...
- 113
5
votes
1
answer
21k
views
Running a 32-bit application in Debian Wheezy 64 bits: Missing libraries
I want to play the game Aquaria in a Debian Wheezy 64 bits. The installation went ok, but when trying to play the game I get these errors:
ALSA lib conf.c:3314:(snd_config_hooks_call) Cannot open ...
- 191
5
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Disabling IPv6 on Mint and Debian
How does one disable IPv6 completely (for all interfaces, resp. for the whole machine?
Keep in mind, I don't want any kind of GUI solution.
OS in question:
Linux Mint 18.x Cinnamon 64-bit
GNU/Linux ...
- 26k
5
votes
1
answer
666
views
Attempting to run a regular tunnel in Debian version 9.5 Linux
I entered the following line in the modules.conf file under the /etc/modules-load.d/modules.conf path:
alias char-major-10-200 tun
And then I typed the following command from the Debian 9.5 Linux ...
user301393
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to block non-free with apt preferences?
I want to block all packages from non-free, except for those that I
name explicitly. Currently, I have:
/etc/apt/sources.list :
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
/...
5
votes
2
answers
3k
views
The version number of my debian
My os was installed from debian 8.5.0 amd64.
Execute commands after installation.
cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux 8 \n \l
No 8.5 here.
cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.16.0-4-amd64 (debian-kernel@...
- 285
4
votes
2
answers
24k
views
Using two displays on debian
I am trying to setup a dual screen configuration on debian 8 jessie with Gnome.
My computer has 3 graphical outputs : 2 displayport and 1 HDMI. I can't manage to have two of this 3 outputs to work ...
- 43
4
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Bluetoothctl: No default controller available
When I run bluetoothctl I get an error,
$ bluetoothctl scan on
No default controller available
But the kernel shows the device is loaded,
bluetooth hci0: firmware: direct-loading firmware intel/ibt-...
- 26k
4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Debian workaround 838871: dhcp network configuration without blocking boot process
Is there a workaround for Debian Bug #838871?
Problem: I want to have a network configuration on Debian with the following properties:
Automatically ifup network interface when a cable is plugged in
...
- 43
3
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is that possible for debian users to connect to network through systemd-networkd?
Systemd offers the ability to manage the network by itself without additional tools such as netctl or NetworkManager. I am running debian 8 and i need to configure my network using systemd-networkd
...
- 61.5k
3
votes
1
answer
949
views
recurrent loss of wireless connectivity
My wireless connection is frequently terminated (reason unknown). I can remedy the problem either by rebooting or by unloading and reloading the kernel module for my wireless network interface ...
- 3,570
3
votes
3
answers
11k
views
Computer won't wake from sleep after suspend [xfce, debian testing]
So, ever since I switched to xfce, I have been having some issues with suspending my system.
My system wakes from sleep normally most of the time, but every once in a while, my computer will turn on, ...
- 1,888
3
votes
1
answer
31k
views
How to remove all kde packages?
So I recently installed the kde packages, running the command
apt install kde-full for installing the kde desktop environment, after test it a while I realize I didn't want it anymore so I remove the ...
- 131
3
votes
1
answer
3k
views
OSPF: Migrating Quagga to BIRD
I need/want to migrate from Quagga to BIRD after several Quagga hiccups, namely Quagga stopped working after updates in Stretch.
BIRD is also more flexible and modern.
I have my OSPF BIND anycast ...
- 55.1k
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
"askfirst" getty with systemd ("press enter to activate this console")
On a Debian Jessie system with systemd, how can I configure the terminals so that a message like Press enter to activate this console is displayed and the login prompt does not appear before hitting ...
- 1,113
2
votes
1
answer
12k
views
Service Active but (exited)
I have already install firewall (iptables) on a server Debian 8.
The service is active but in (exited) state.
What does "Active: active (exited)" mean ? And how can i fix or change it into (running) ?...
- 29