installing new programs

[unclesirbobby]

How do you generally install new programs on debian. I have just tried to install a web server. You may have read my other post.

People were using the following method

apt-get update
apt-get install apache2

When I trie dit it did not work. But that was maybe something to do with me messing about with the synaptic package manager. I may have installed some conflicting libraries.

Will the above method work and sort out confluicting libraries

I have a couple of things I wish to install.

1. GIMP - as good a version i can get
2. A search and replace program that can handle multiple files. Does anyone know of one that I can download.

[Bemk]

Are you using root to run this command?

Apt-get won't install things unless you are signed in as root, In Ubuntu you can use sudo, but I don't think that exists on a Debian system. Assuming you are relatively new to Linux, I'll tell you how to get in to the root account.

Type: su[enter]
give your root password[enter]
do the things you'd like to do in root
get the hell out of root by typing: logout[enter]

[unclesirbobby]

well I am signed in as root all the time at the moment. I changed the login so root coud sign in. I needed that to use apche. I could not write files in the directories where they needed to be written otherwise

[oz]

Here's the APT HowTo for installing packages under Debian:

APT HOWTO - Managing packages

It should have everything you need to know and more.

[hazel]

well I am signed in as root all the time at the moment. I changed the login so root could sign in. I needed that to use apche. I could not write files in the directories where they needed to be written otherwise

I really wouldn't recommend that! It's so easy to do some damage to your system. The reason Linux has a root user is so that ordinary users don't need to have that kind of power. Always log in as yourself and use su to go to root like bemk suggests. Do what you can only do as root, then exit back to your normal user shell. Don't do anything as root that you don't absolutely need to. It's a good habit to get into.

[Bemk]

If you have an unused computer available, like me, or a virtual machine, try installing Debian onto it and use root to remove /boot. There is a good chance that you won't be able any more to boot your system. That's why you shouldn't use root all the time. You might just change or remove files that are critical for your system when you are logged in as root.