Find/install app and dependencies 'manually'

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glowrak guy
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Find/install app and dependencies 'manually'

Post by glowrak guy »

This is a brief method of using a hybrid manual way of aquiring an app and it's dependencies,
when normal use of a package manager is considered problematic, and compiling isn't
a viable option, using wine-rt as an example.

In a synaptic listing, right-click on wine-rt, and a panel opens, where you can choose
properties, and click the dependencies tab.

Click the synaptic search button, type wine-rt in the empty field,
and apps related to wine-rt will be listed. From these two, you can
make a list of needed/desired files.

Also, in synaptic, mark wine-rt for installation, click the 'apply' button, and there will be
a 'show details' widget to click, on the right side of the download panel.
This will list all changes to be applied
in the operation, including dependencies to be installed.

For crucial apps, like audacity, or a daw, it's lucky to keep a list of dependencies in a text file.
If any travel is involved, you'll also want to check each dependency for
it's own dependencies, and compare them to what is installed, or available
in synaptic. When you open synaptic, you can have it show 'installed files',
or available files not installed, or installed-upgradable. So you can verify if
the dependencies are available locally in your repositories.

When synaptic is used to download files, you can copy the downloaded files to a usbstick etc
They will be found in /var/cache/apt/archives. Or you can use synaptic files preferences to
keep downloaded files in the cache, and later copy them to media, at leisure.
Very handy to have them on a rainy day.
(and how many times my bumbling has made it rain :roll: )

With a list of dependencies in hand, travel to a library, internet cafe,
or broadband enabled friend, bringing appropriate gifts.

It will be best to take your computer to where you can
connect to the internet, and do all your installs and updates
using synaptic. But if you can't, someone can go to

https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/ ... tu/ubuntus

click the 'View package details' link in the upper-right, which opens

https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/ ... /+packages

click the triangle widget by the left side of the wine-rt version you want.
A list of downloads appears. Choose according to which version supports your system.
Click each item to download it.

When you've gathered all the .deb files of the dependencies you need,
put them all in a folder, cd into that folder (cd = change directory) and command

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

If you missed a dependency of a dependency, the command output will tell you,
and you'll need to get what's missing. yada yada (this is why package managers exist!)
But the rewards of the freedom to do things 'the hard way', when truly needed,
is a big part of using linux. Defeat is not an option.

You can do this dance for any useful apps that are not in a systems repositories,
and it's pretty safe for occasional audio plugins, and instruments, or a special web browser etc
but pretty risky for anything else, especially system files and libraries.
Theee beeee warned. Keep track of what you do, in case a reversal is needed.

There are various debian package websites for things outside of
dedicated linux audio territory, or for convenience. If you google for example

amsynth "debian package"

you'll get a nice range of locations to choose from,
and installing an instrument is very unlikely to harm your system,
and easy to remove using the package manager. You don'r need internet connected, to uninstall.

Rarely, a great app like yoshimi, isn't in some local repository, but is easy to find,
but after it's installed, it mentions missing dependencies, but you check, and find them
in your system. So you 'force' the install:

sudo dpkg --force-all -i yoshimi-xyz.deb

Lets assume this worked, but next time you run synaptic, you are warned
that the file you installed is broken, and must be removed. If such a rare dire straight
is entered, this link has the solution, an easy edit of a textfile.

http://www.sudo-juice.com/ignore-broken ... -aptitude/

In an rpm based distro, it's easier, if yoshimi were considered broken, root user would command

rpm -e --justdb yoshimi

This hides the working 'broken' file, while letting it remain in the system.

Hopefully this will help somebody someday somewhere, when in a pinch.
Not meant for long-term system stability. So when there are issues with software,
consider communicating with the developer, and pass along
some encouraging words, along with the nature of the problems.
And asking in related forums may also yield new or better ways to handle things,
until the fix is in.

(if there is any error above, feel free to chime in, and I'll edit as needed.)
Cheers
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English Guy
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Re: Find/install app and dependencies 'manually'

Post by English Guy »

Something I found useful: if when you use an app, it moans about a missing file, you can use apt-file to trace the package that contains that file.
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