On Mon 05 Aug 2019 at 12:06:57 (-0700), Patrick Bartek wrote: > On Mon, 5 Aug 2019 11:50:07 -0400 Greg Wooledge <wool...@eeg.ccf.org> wrote: > > On Mon, Aug 05, 2019 at 08:44:35AM -0700, Patrick Bartek wrote: > > > On Mon, 5 Aug 2019 08:41:06 -0400 Greg Wooledge <wool...@eeg.ccf.org> > > > wrote: > > > > On Fri, Aug 02, 2019 at 02:42:36PM -0700, Patrick Bartek wrote: > > > > > To help installing the .deb file, install gdebi-core (commandline > > > > > version) from Buster's repo. It will take care of dependencies > > > > > which dpkg does not. > > > > > > > > Or simply use "apt install ./whatever.deb". Don't forget the leading > > > > "./" or "../" or "/" characters. They tell apt that this is a filename > > > > instead of a package name. Then, apt will resolve the dependencies. > > > > > > > > > > That little feature is not mentioned in the man pages. Never got > > > around to reading the full docs. Have to try it next time. > > > > > > FWIW, I've been using gdebi-core since Wheezy when dpkg was the usual > > > way to install a local .deb file. Liked its simplicity and just > > > continued with it with Stretch. > > > > Yeah, that's fair. I think the "apt install ./foo.deb" thing was added > > in stretch, so it's quite new. > > Well, Stretch was my first exposure to apt. I used Wheezy (and apt-get) > from RC3 or 4 (replacing Fedora 12) until long term support for it > ended in 2018, then moved to Stretch skipping Jessie entirely. > > I've read that apt released in 2014 or so. Its man page in Stretch is > dated 2015. So, it could have been available first in Jessie, but have > no idea if the local .deb install with dependency checking was included > then, but probably was. No matter. apt makes things easier compared to > the apt-get/apt-cache/etc suite of commands.
As long as you bear in mind that apt's interface is a moveable feast. For example, not many people recognised the behaviour of this little gem: # ls gem.deb # apt install gem.deb which will find and install a package called gem2deb, not the file gem.deb. https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2018/08/msg01077.html Cheers, David.