introduction to archives

8/4/2019 Introduction to archives

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Debian releases and archives


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What we need to know aboutDebian

Debian is stable as a rock.

A new Debian version,the software it contains

is usually not current. In a FOSS world,improvements,fixes,new

features are added on daily basis.

Debian stable release focuses on softwarestability.


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Structure of Debian archive

/pool /dists


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The Package Pool

/pool hierarchy is divided into three sections

Main

Contrib

Non-free

Two types of packages in Debian Source packages

Binary packages


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Binary Packages

Binary packages, which contain executables, configurationfiles, man/info pages, copyright information, and otherdocumentation. These packages are distributed in aDebian-specific archive format they are usuallydistinguished by having a '.deb' file extension. Binary

packages can be unpacked using the Debian utility dpkg. Source Packages

Source packages, which consist of a .dsc file describing

the source package (including the names of the followingfiles), a .orig.tar.gz file that contains the original unmodifiedsource in gzip-compressed tar format and usually a .diff.gzfile that contains the debian-specific changes to theoriginal source. The utility dpkg-source packs and unpacks

Debian source archives


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The main archive area

The main archive area comprises the Debiandistribution. Only the packages in this area areconsidered part of the distribution. None of the

packages in the main archive area requiresoftware outside of that area to function.Anyone may use, share, modify and redistributethe packages in this archive area freely


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The non-free archive area

The non-free archive area containssupplemental packages intended to work withthe Debian distribution that do not comply with

the DFSG or have other problems that maketheir distribution problematic. They may notcomply with all of the policy requirements in thismanual due to restrictions on modifications or

other limitations.


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The contrib archive area

The contrib archive area contains supplementalpackages intended to work with the Debiandistribution, but which require software outside

of the distribution to either build or function.

Every package in contrib must comply with theDFSG


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/dists

Combination of following parameters

Release name, such as stable

The section,such as main

Target architecture

Package type:source or binary


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Debian official releases

Stable

Testing

Unstable


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Unstable release

Unstable has the most recent (latest) versions A state of continous change

Also called as sid

Unstable changes a lot, and it can break at anypoint

Packages in unstable are not well tested and

might have bugs

Unstable has the most recent (latest) versions


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Testing release

Every package has a urgency specification

Testing breaks less often than Unstable

Packages are installed into the `testing'directory after they have undergone somedegree of testing in unstable.

Security updates are delayed.


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Stable release

Provides Security and Stability.

Stable contains old versions of packages. Butthis package is well tested and is less likely to

have any bugs. Stable releases are immutable.


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Debian unofficial ATP archives

experimental archive

volatile archive

backports.org archive


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The experimental archive

Contains packages that are not ready for publicuse, not even as part of unstable

part of the development cycle

People can take part in the development.


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The volatile archive

Debians stable archive does not changebeyond security updates, and these do not addnew features

Certain types of software must change overtime, even on the most stable systems(ex,spamfilters,virus scanners,etc.)

goal of the volatile archive is to become a

parallel to the security archive,allow updates


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The backports.org archive

the Debian stable release often contains out-dated software.

many packages are not available at all because

they have only been packaged recently anddependencies makes it impossible to use.

Upgrading doesn't work all the time becausestability may be in risk.


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The backports.org archive contains more than450 packages

The backports.org archive18 attempts to close

this hole and distributes packages that havebeen recompiled in exactly this way.


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Look, this is Debian. They dont release thingsuntil you have to fire rockets at the thing to stopit from working.

MrNemesis on Slashdot


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Thank you

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