Help with debian make and install command

[akinslove]

I am a student currently learning linux and new to the language.
I am using the debian operating system
I tried using the command openssl but got an error that command does not exist.
I checked the man page for openssl but was told the man page for openssl does not exist.
I was able to use wget command to download the latest version of openssl.
I was able to configure using the ./config command.
The problem is that I tried using the make command (and even make install command) to build and install the software but got a lot of errors.
This problem I also encountered while trying to configure the yum package.
Can anyone tell me what the main problem is with the make command.
Is it that debian does not allow the use of make command (and I tried this command even as root) or is there something I am doing wrong.
Please reply if you can help me.

[coopstah13]

you should install software through the package manager whenever possible, run this command as root

apt-get install openssl openssl-doc

[akinslove]

I have tried the command "apt-get openssl openssl-doc" but still getting error message as below:
E: Couldn't find package openssl-doc

[coopstah13]

I have tried the command "apt-get openssl openssl-doc" but still getting error message as below:
E: Couldn't find package openssl-doc

the command is

apt-get install openssl openssl-doc

not

apt-get openssl openssl-doc

also you might need to run

apt-get update

first

if you just made a typo in your post then post the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list:

cat /etc/apt/sources.list

[akinslove]

Thanks for helping, I typed the command correctly earlier with apt-get install and update and using content of my source file is:
#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r4a _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20080803-21:07]/ etch contrib main

deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r4a _Etch_ - Official i386 CD Binary-1 20080803-21:07]/ etch contrib main

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb Debian -- Security Information etch/updates main contrib
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src Debian -- Security Information etch/updates main contrib
~

[coopstah13]

ah, here is where the problem is, open that file in nano

nano /etc/apt/sources.list

it should look like this instead

deb http://ftp.debian.org/ etch main contrib
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/ etch main contrib
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

then save the file by hitting ctrl+o and ctrl+x, now run the commands

apt-get update
apt-get install openssl openssl-doc

[coopstah13]

i'm not sure if those sources are quite right still, if they don't work try this instead

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian etch main contrib
deb http://security.debian.org/debian etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian etch/updates main contrib

[coopstah13]

with a quick google which I should have done in the first place I get this as a typical (default-ish) sources.list

     # See sources.list(5) for more information, especially
     # Remember that you can only use http, ftp or file URIs
     # CDROMs are managed through the apt-cdrom tool.
     deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
     deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
     deb http://security.debian.org stable/updates main contrib non-free
     
     # Uncomment if you want the apt-get source function to work
     #deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
     #deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

[akinslove]

Thanks a lot coopstah13.
I have made the changes to my source file but when I typed apt-get update, I get a new error messages which I believe is stopping me from running the command "apt-get install openssl openssl-doc"

The errors messages showing when I type "apt-get update" are:
Get: 1 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US Release.gpg [940B]
Get: 2 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US Release [932B]
Get: 3 Debian -- Security Information stable/updates Release.gpg [189B]
Ign http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US Release
Ign http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages
Hit Debian -- Security Information stable/updates Release
Ign http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Packages
Get: 4 ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable Release.gpg [386B]
Ign http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Packages
Ign Debian -- Security Information stable/updates/main Packages/DiffIndex
Hit ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable Release
Get: 5 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages [982B]
Get: 6 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Packages [988B]
Ign Debian -- Security Information stable/updates/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Ign Debian -- Security Information stable/updates/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
99% [5 Packages gzip 0] [Release gpgv 58216] [Connecting to non-us.debian.org (
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages
Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
99% [6 Packages gzip 0] [Release gpgv 58216] [Waiting for headers] [Waiting for
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Packages
Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Get: 7 http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Packages [990B]
99% [7 Packages gzip 0] [Waiting for headers] [Waiting for headers]
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
Err http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Packages
Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Hit Debian -- Security Information stable/updates/main Packages
Hit Debian -- Security Information stable/updates/contrib Packages
Ign ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable/main Packages/DiffIndex
Hit Debian -- Security Information stable/updates/non-free Packages
Ign ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Ign ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Hit ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable/main Packages
Hit ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable/contrib Packages
Hit ftp.osuosl.org :: Oregon State University Open Source Lab stable/non-free Packages
Fetched 4834B in 2s (2367B/s)
Failed to fetch http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-...86/Packages.gz Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Failed to fetch http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-...86/Packages.gz Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Failed to fetch http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-...86/Packages.gz Sub-process gzip returned an error code (1)
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US Release: The following signatures were invalid: NODATA 1 NODATA 2
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_debian-non-US_dists_stable_non-US_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_debian-non-US_dists_stable_non-US_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org stable/non-US/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_debian-non-US_dists_stable_non-US_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

[akinslove]

I have decided to use the command "apt-get install openssl"
I still get the errors indicated but it seems openssl is now working because when I type the command "man openssl", the man pages comes up.
Just want to be sure and would like to know the opinion of all you experienced debian users if this is the way debian operates using the apt-get command or if I was only able to download a section of the package needed