My Ubuntu installation notes long! 3186

Oliver Wong

One of the reasons I love Debian, and by extension Ubuntu, is the apt-get package management system - indeed, I switched from SuSE to Mepis when Ubuntu and especially Kubuntu weren't yet up to speed precisely because I fell in love with Synaptic the moment I first tried it on an early version of Ubuntu.

However, one of the things I've learnt about using Linux is that if the package manager says that making a particular change will break things, or if making a change will result in other things being uninstalled (especially if it's *lots* of other things!) then it's a really good idea not to force it.

I do use a few additional apps that aren't in the repositories, such as multimedia packages (libdvdcss etc), Skype, Truecrypt, and maybe one or two others. If possible I prefer to do it by adding selected repositories to my sources list (e.g. debian-multimedia.org, even Skype), and failing that I still install through package management using right-click on the .deb from Konqueror for it. Occasionally I then have to use the package manager Synaptic-Adept 'Fix broken' to pull in any additional dependencies, and it would be nice if that was automatically part of installing a standalone .deb.

For me all of this ties back into being part of why Free-libre software is to be preferred and one of the reasons I always prefer libre software over proprietary if it can do the job. Now that I use Linux anyway, EVEN IF a software-libre app was less functionally slick than a proprietary equivalent (and often libre is BETTER!) it's a BIG advantage being able to pull it in instantly from the standard Debian-Ubuntu repositories and know it will automatically update with future versions.

So to my mind that's the right way to go when using Linux, and it is a significant change in mindset from the Windows way of going to a website and downloading or purchasing stand-alone applications that the user must keep track of, maintain, and upgrade individually.

Now I will only grudgingly use applications that aren't in the repositories, not least because it's often an instant indication that it's not software libre, and equally I will switch to a libre alternative from the repositories the moment I discover one that's "good enough" for my needs - intentionally satisficing rather than maximising for the functionality I seek.

-- JPB