Installing software: Repositories and software stability

[stu_m]

I've been using Ubuntu for awhile and decided to give Debian a go. The use of apt-get and in particular Synaptic (a GUI for apt-get) seems fairly straight forward in Ubuntu. I was able to find all the software I wanted in the main repository and "universe".

Initial impressions Debian vs Ubuntu:
Debian requires research on the part of the novice user to get things up and running -- in particular graphics, and sound in my case. On the other hand you actually learn something along the way and programs seem to launch significantly faster (particularly Open Office).

Some questions from a non-programmer....

* I've read you can install software by "make installing" source. Is this desirable? Does it show up in Synaptic once installed (or if not how would you uninstall/manage security updates etc.)?

* I've read Debian.org's definitions of unstable etc. How in general can the installation of "development" packages affect a system?

* What are some repositories I can add? In particular I want to install The Gimp via Synaptic.

* Is Firestarter a reasonable firewall to install for someone who does not want to be too hands on with security?

* What about antivirus/antispyware--I know a lot of people say Linux is not such a big target and not really affected, but these things must exist (and the threat from them be increasing) given increasing corporate use of Linux? Any $free software suited to this?

Many thanks for any guidance.[/img]

[Vergil83]

* I've read you can install software by "make installing" source. Is this desirable? Does it show up in Synaptic once installed (or if not how would you uninstall/manage security updates etc.)?

It will still showed up on synaptic as installed. IMHO you don't really gain that much from installing from source. If you have a decent system, I normally can't find a noticeable speed change. Although I am sure some gentoo users would disagree

* I've read Debian.org's definitions of unstable etc. How in general can the installation of "development" packages affect a system?

It *can* make it unstable. I run unstable, and rarely have major issues. If you want 100% stable, go with stable, 90% stable go with testing, if you like to live a little wild go unstable.

* What are some repositories I can add? In particular I want to install The Gimp via Synaptic.

Debian proper has something like 15,000 programs in their repositories. For me, the only extra I add are for the DVD codecs (since there are legal issues debian can't host them). Gimp should be avaible even in ubuntu (it is in Debian... it is installed by default (i think)).

* Is Firestarter a reasonable firewall to install for someone who does not want to be too hands on with security?

I would say it is fine.

* What about antivirus/antispyware--I know a lot of people say Linux is not such a big target and not really affected, but these things must exist (and the threat from them be increasing) given increasing corporate use of Linux? Any $free software suited to this?

I haven't seen any antispyware programs, but there are a few antivirus programs... take a look at clamav

[techieMoe]

* I've read you can install software by "make installing" source. Is this desirable? Does it show up in Synaptic once installed (or if not how would you uninstall/manage security updates etc.)?

That depends on you. For me, "make installing" is not desireable unless I can't find precompiled binaries (RPM, DEB, etc) for the program. For most programs there is no appreciable performance difference between a precompiled program and a locally-compiled ("make installed") program. I personally just don't have the time to compile most of my programs.

* What about antivirus/antispyware--I know a lot of people say Linux is not such a big target and not really affected, but these things must exist (and the threat from them be increasing) given increasing corporate use of Linux? Any $free software suited to this?

Yes, the potential for viruses and spyware exist for Linux, but to date I have yet to see a single documented case. The reason for this (in my opinion) has nothing to do with the popularity/unpopularity of Linux to malicious coders, and everything to do with the Linux/UNIX/BSD security model. I submit to you this link from The Register which offers more detailed information.

That being said, if you're particularly worried about viruses/adware/etc (understandable if you come from MS Windows) there are a few different programs you can look for. One is ClamAV, as was mentioned previously, and another is F-Prot.

[ericrun]

For now, there is a three fold reason why Linux has no spyware issues.

The first is security. Linux is very secure if you have good passwords. If you use a user account, nothing can be installed except in your account, and as long as you don't give an unexpected install your root password, you're pretty safe.

The second is differentiation of systems. Different Linux distributions have slightly differing file systems, start up scripts, and different installations have different services running, and many don't even have a GUI installed. With Windows every machine has explorer running 100% of the time.

Thirdly is profitability. After you take into account the previous two reasons, and consider the small return for all the effort, spyware companies have no reason to develop for Linux yet. In 5 years, should Red Hat, SUSE, Unified Debian, or some other flavor take over 20% of the OS market, you might start to see some spyware come along.

As for antivirus, I use http://www.free-av.com/ on Windows, and they have a Linux edition, both free for home use.

[Vergil83]

I actually thought I recall seeing that Norton or Mcafee made a antivirus product for linux too

[techieMoe]

I actually thought I recall seeing that Norton or Mcafee made a antivirus product for linux too

What do you know? McAfee LinuxShield I wasn't aware that existed. I don't see a Norton product, but that might have to do with concessions Microsoft is paying to Symantec (Norton's parent company).