<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">NMGLUGers, I use both 'apt' on cli and Synaptic(GUI) for installing packages. If I know the package name and how it fits into my system the cli is quicker and direct. I have usually reviewed the repositories in /etc/apt/sources.list; and have a sense of the differences between them. However, if I am in doubt or do not know the package name, but do know what area I need to have function more I use Synaptic and rely on its Search function and the brief descriptions of each package. A recent instance of this was a search for Libreoffice clipart that is free and compatible with my sources.list. While there is a vast amount of free and non-free clipart in the wider world, in Synaptic I could count on not getting caught up in ambiguous copyright or hidden hooks or incompatibilities. It is a trivial example I am sure, but gives an example of how the GUI aids me when I am short on other knowledge.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">I hope to see a few of us tonight at our Virtual meeting. Thank you, Ted P.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Dec 1, 2020 at 11:01 AM Akkana Peck <<a href="mailto:akkana@shallowsky.com">akkana@shallowsky.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">LeRoy Diener writes:<br>
> For example, one way to install a program is from apt.<br>
> What does that mean? Is it related to typing in the CLI something like sudo<br>
> apt install ... ? Is it related to the etc/apt folder? What are the<br>
<br>
apt is a program, used to install software on Debian-derived systems.<br>
(You can verify that by typing which apt; which will show that apt is<br>
/usr/bin/apt).<br>
<br>
You can run it to install packages (apt install), to update the<br>
system (apt update && apt upgrade or dist-upgrade), and for<br>
various other functions.<br>
<br>
apt originally stands for "Advanced Package Tool", and it's also<br>
used as a general name for the way Debian packages software,<br>
and all the programs that support it (in addition to apt, there are<br>
lots of helpers like apt-cache, aptitude, apt-file, dpkg, synaptic<br>
and on and on). You can read more about the general use on Wikipedia:<br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APT_(software)" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APT_(software)</a><br>
<br>
Some of those programs build in extra stuff: e.g. aptitude has<br>
nicer searching than apt-cache and different dependency management<br>
from /usr/bin/apt, while synaptic has a GUI for people who aren't<br>
comfortable running in the command line. But even if you use some<br>
of these tools, e.g. Ubuntu's package manager GUI, you're still<br>
"using apt" underneath.<br>
<br>
> pros/cons?<br>
<br>
If I'm on a Debian system, I always install software using apt<br>
unless there's a good reason not to. That way, when I update my<br>
system, I automatically get updates for every apt-installed package.<br>
<br>
Some reasons that would lead me to install a program some other<br>
way than apt:<br>
- not available in apt, either because it's proprietary (e.g. Zoom)<br>
or because nobody has packaged it<br>
- the version in the distro I'm running is too old, and I need<br>
features or bugfixes that come with a more recent version<br>
- I plan to contribute to the package, so I need the cutting<br>
edge version built from source<br>
<br>
> Another way to install is into home bin.<br>
> What does that mean? Is it related to the home/bin folder?<br>
<br>
You can, optionally, create a directory named "bin" inside your<br>
home directory -- so you could refer to it as ~/bin, $HOME/bin,<br>
or /home/your-user-name/bin -- and add it to your PATH, the<br>
environment variable that controls where the system looks for<br>
executable programs.<br>
<br>
In my ~/bin, I mostly put programs I wrote myself, and a few<br>
scripts I downloaded from a trusted source. It isn't somewhere<br>
I typically install downloaded software packages.<br>
<br>
> Where are the programs coming from if installed using apt or not from apt.<br>
<br>
When you install using apt, the programs are almost always coming<br>
from your Linux distro's repositories for the version of the distro<br>
you're running (e.g. Ubuntu 20.04, Debian Wheezy). You can choose to<br>
add additional repositories outside the distro, but that's fairly<br>
unusual and something you have to do deliberately. For instance,<br>
some people make PPAs ("Personal Package Archive") for Ubuntu to<br>
distribute newer versions of certain programs than the ones Debian<br>
distributes.<br>
<br>
> How safe are programs from outside the repository? Which places are safer<br>
> than others?<br>
<br>
Programs from outside the repository are only as safe as the place<br>
you're getting them. For instance, if I download firefox from<br>
<a href="http://mozilla.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">mozilla.org</a>, I figure that's pretty safe; if <a href="http://mozilla.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">mozilla.org</a> got<br>
compromised it would be all over the news and I'd hear about it.<br>
But if someone on an IRC channel says "Hey, there's a great program<br>
you can download from <a href="http://harrysprograms.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">harrysprograms.com</a>", that's obviously not<br>
safe. You have to use your own judgement and common sense when<br>
downloading out-of-distro packages.<br>
<br>
Some sources can be misleading. For instance, Python programs can be<br>
installed using pip, perl programs using cpan, ruby programs using<br>
gems; you would think these should be safe because they're coming<br>
from the organization behind Python or Perl or Ruby, but they're not<br>
really, because anyone can upload programs to those systems. That's<br>
also true of the AUR system in Arch Linux. So again, you have to use<br>
common sense: is it a program a lot of people seem to use and trust?<br>
Has it been around for a long time?<br>
<br>
> Does it make a difference which folder on my hard drive where the programs<br>
> are installed to?<br>
<br>
No. If you're running it, you're running it, regardless of where it<br>
lives on your file system.<br>
<br>
...Akkana<br>
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</blockquote></div>