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how well do ppa's work on Debian? I don't like my system constantly updating (and occasionally breaking) - esp secretly behind my back like snap/flatpak but o

by geokon 7y ago

how well do ppa's work on Debian? I don't like my system constantly updating (and occasionally breaking) - esp secretly behind my back like snap/flatpak but occasionally I do need the latest version of some package and i don't want to manage manually installations tucked away in some folder with random bashrc tweaks

foresto 7y ago
There is no official support for PPAs on Debian. You can configure a Debian system to use them, but you'll be installing packages built on and for Ubuntu, so you'll be risking breakage unless the package maintainer has already taken the extra time to test for problems on Debian (which is rare). This feature request shows some community interest in Debian support, but as far as I know, it hasn't gone anywhere yet. https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564 https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564 I wish Debian offered its own equivalent of PPAs.
- geokon 7y ago
  Damn. That's a real shame. I really like Debian otherwise. It's still minimal to the point where you can understand all the pieces. I used it for years, but then 5 years ago I moved off of it just because it's so easy to get software from PPAs and b/c every instruction is Ubuntu by default. Over those 5 years being a little flexible has ended up saving tons and tons of hour. Even just the other day I wanted to install OpenJDK 14 and ended up having to do it manually. Maintaining that in some directory and having my own update-alternatives entries.. it just feels really yucky at this point
kilburn 7y ago
In my experience, most software offering PPAs also offers debian repositories that get setup in your /etc/sources.d/ (usually the install instructions are just to run "curl https://somesoftware/installer.sh https://somesoftware/installer.sh | bash", which you should doble-check of course). Thereafter your regular apt-get update && apt-get upgrade updates that software too. It is really not an issue in my experience. I currently have the following software installed (and updated) this way: docker, virtualbox, nodejs, yarn, skype, vscode, teamviewer and sublime text.

by geokon 7y ago

foresto 7y ago

There is no official support for PPAs on Debian. You can configure a Debian system to use them, but you'll be installing packages built on and for Ubuntu, so you'll be risking breakage unless the package maintainer has already taken the extra time to test for problems on Debian (which is rare). This feature request shows some community interest in Debian support, but as far as I know, it hasn't gone anywhere yet. https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564 https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/188564 I wish Debian offered its own equivalent of PPAs.

geokon 7y ago
Damn. That's a real shame. I really like Debian otherwise. It's still minimal to the point where you can understand all the pieces. I used it for years, but then 5 years ago I moved off of it just because it's so easy to get software from PPAs and b/c every instruction is Ubuntu by default. Over those 5 years being a little flexible has ended up saving tons and tons of hour. Even just the other day I wanted to install OpenJDK 14 and ended up having to do it manually. Maintaining that in some directory and having my own update-alternatives entries.. it just feels really yucky at this point

kilburn 7y ago

In my experience, most software offering PPAs also offers debian repositories that get setup in your /etc/sources.d/ (usually the install instructions are just to run "curl https://somesoftware/installer.sh https://somesoftware/installer.sh | bash", which you should doble-check of course). Thereafter your regular apt-get update && apt-get upgrade updates that software too. It is really not an issue in my experience. I currently have the following software installed (and updated) this way: docker, virtualbox, nodejs, yarn, skype, vscode, teamviewer and sublime text.