Linux Mint Debian Stable (For Those Running This Setup)

[äxl]

Great! And now that's it's sticky: Can I use Debian stable with MATE wheezy?

[zerozero]

äxl,
don't think so, as you can see here mate depends on wheezy libs (and i saw another situation similar before , i believe, just can't locate it now )

[selittl]

I just want to make sure I get this right. I am new to LMDE (having just installed the new RC) and would like to keep it at stable for now. What are the exact best sources to include in my sources list? KBD47 lists these below. Is this the way to go?

Just thought I would list the sources I'm using:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org squeeze main non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main contrib non-free
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org squeeze-backports main

[KBD47]

I just want to make sure I get this right. I am new to LMDE (having just installed the new RC) and would like to keep it at stable for now. What are the exact best sources to include in my sources list? KBD47 lists these below. Is this the way to go?

Just thought I would list the sources I'm using:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org squeeze main non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main contrib non-free
deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org squeeze-backports main

I think I would do what zerozero advises, wait at least until June when Wheezy goes into freeze, there should be little change after that. Actually, I'm not sure anything needs to be done until early next year, then you would probably want all of the above sources but with "squeeze" changed to "wheezy" in those lines--am I right about this guys? Isn't wheezy after June basically frozen with few changes until it becomes the new Stable at the beginning of 2013? So all you really need to do on the new Mint Debian spins is just wait it out till the first of next year then change your sources--is that correct?
KBD47

[squeezy]

Yes, from what I understand when wheezy is frozen the only thing that will be done is bug fixes until it's released as the new stable.

[äxl]

zerozero, so far I have MATE's libatril (1.2.0-2+wheezy) dependencies down to:

Code: Select all

|_libdjvulibre21 (3.5.25.2-1) (3.5.23-3 Debian:6.0.4/stable)
   | libdjvulibre-text (>= 3.5.25.2-1) (3.5.23-3 Debian:6.0.4/stable)
   |_libjpeg8 (>= 8c) (8b-1 Debian:6.0.4/stable)

Is there a tool that can do something like this?

Since there are some month till the change maybe the MATE team will get a way around this.

[zerozero]

äxl,
i found the other situation i was talking above viewtopic.php?f=206&t=86481&start=260#p552860 (starting from here, bdantas posts)
- he was trying to install mate into UP3 in early march (UP3 was frozen since august) and you can see the number of unmet deps he is getting there (and also see in stefano comment that is pretty obvious that mate pkgs expect certain wheezy (testing) libs available.

selittl,
there's a few different things here, i think:
1- if you want to want to run a lmde-setup based in squeeze follow LifeInTheGrey's howto, that's it
2- if you want the stability of the UP, follow the sources.list you have in the current RC;
3- with (and when) the approaching deep-freeze it's possible to have a similar experience to 1- tracking wheezy and not testing

[selittl]

Thanks, ZZ. I am new to this debian fun so will probably stick with the RC sources until I understand things a bit more.

[KBD47]

Tonight I went ahead and did a full install of the new LMDE RC spin on one of my computers. Everything is working great My plan is to follow it into the new Stable next year.
KBD

[LifeInTheGrey]

Tonight I went ahead and did a full install of the new LMDE RC spin on one of my computers. Everything is working great My plan is to follow it into the new Stable next year.
KBD

From the moment of its introduction, I have been quite excited about UP4, but also somewhat sad about (a) the dual-install of multiple environments, and (b) the breakages it will have with Debian Stable. I, like most Debian Stable users, primarily used it because of its continued use of the GNOME 2 desktop. Scrambling to find a solution to the problem I have considered MATE (which is actually quite similar and stable, from my testing), and recent developments have spawned an idea in my mind, and I just confirmed to be (at least partially) true.

Fact 1: MATE is housed in its entirety in the packages.linuxmint.com/ debian archive
Fact 2: MATE runs off of GTK2 dependencies, so the dependencies in the Mint repo should not conflict with the Debian repo
Fact 3: Because of MATE's close ties to Mint, it shall receive the most immediate updates through the Mint repo

Hypothesis: Installing MATE on top of pure Debian Testing using the Mint repo does not cause dependency conflicts

I installed the Netinstall business card version of Debian Wheezy (today's version) without a desktop environment. I then added the Mint packages repo, updated, and installed mate-core, mate-desktop-environment, mdm, and xserver-xorg-video-all (mate did not pull in xorg for some reason). Upon reboot, I was greeted by MDM login, however my default session was not set to MATE. Once I changed it, it asked if I wanted to make it the default, and I successfully logged in to a rather bare MATE desktop. A few minutes of playing around confirmed the few programs present were functional and operating as one should expect.

Because I have a golf match that I'm soon leaving for, I could not test further. On the docket for testing is to set up MintMenu, Mint theming, and the remaining packages in a full desktop environment. More importantly, I want to test updates over time to confirm that there are no conflicts. The only area I can foresee there being those conflicts are the meta files (mint-meta-debian, mint-meta-codecs, etc), however those are just convenient ways to install other packages, so I will likely just install those myself. If my hypothesis proves true, then I shall have the most lightweight Mint MATE system one can have, while also having the most up-to-date packages and system support. Additionally, as Wheezy is approaching its code freeze in June, the likelihood of system breakages in Testing grow smaller and smaller.

If anyone else is interested in my experiment, let me know and I can post a full tutorial on it once I confirm it works as it should.

[GeneC]

......................
Because I have a golf match that I'm soon leaving for, I could not test further. ..........................

Isn't spring, grand.

If my hypothesis proves true, then I shall have the most lightweight Mint MATE system one can have, while also having the most up-to-date packages and system support. Additionally, as Wheezy is approaching its code freeze in June, the likelihood of system breakages in Testing grow smaller and smaller.

If anyone else is interested in my experiment, let me know and I can post a full tutorial on it once I confirm it works as it should.

[/quote]

Sounds like a great idea.
Looking forward to the tutorial.

[KBD47]

My experience with two previous Mint Debian installs with update 4 with over 1 gig of updates at first was promising, but the network manager had a glitch in it with both installs and would not auto connect, the save button to do so was grayed out. I probably should have left those two installs intact as they were set to Stable sources and were rock solid. I've done two new installs with the LMDE RC and those are working great. I installed the MATE-notifier-daemon as it was missing, installed gedit to manage my sources, installed Iceweasel and Icedove and removed FF & TB because I want to get the Debian security updates to my browser and email when I go Stable. Once the Debian Freeze is in place this summer I'm going to set sources to Wheezy next-Stable and leave the freaking installs alone
KBD47

[squeezy]

Hypothesis: Installing MATE on top of pure Debian Testing using the Mint repo does not cause dependency conflicts...

I installed the Netinstall business card version of Debian Wheezy (today's version) without a desktop environment. I then added the Mint packages repo,..

I've done this a couple of times so far. No problems to speak of. I've torn them down to try something else, not because it wasn't working.

It's a great way to get a pure MATE desktop.

If you want the latest in MATE setups you can add the MATE repository from packages.mate-desktop.org. Their packages are little fresher than those in Mint's repo. Been running this setup for close to two weeks with no problems at all, except that little misstep when I replaced gdm3 with mdm.

Here's my sources for a Mint, Wheezy, MATE setup:

Code: Select all

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
deb http://debian.mirror.frontiernet.net/debian wheezy main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ wheezy/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ wheezy main non-free
deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/debian wheezy main

If you pin the MATE repo at the same level as Mint it will override any Mint packages of the same name.

My preferences:

Code: Select all

Package: *
Pin: release o=linuxmint
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.mate-desktop.org
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: 500


[äxl]

I installed the Netinstall business card version of Debian Wheezy (today's version) without a desktop environment. I then added the Mint packages repo, updated, and installed mate-core, mate-desktop-environment, mdm, and xserver-xorg-video-all (mate did not pull in xorg for some reason).

Sounds exciting. Estimated traffic?

Upon reboot, I was greeted by MDM login, however my default session was not set to MATE.

But

installed gedit to manage my sources

Why not use pluma?

[KBD47]

axl wrote:
Why not use pluma?

Old habits? Gotta get used to the new names for everything
KBD47

[GeneC]

..................
If you pin the MATE repo at the same level as Mint it will override any Mint packages of the same name.

My preferences:

Code: Select all

Package: *
Pin: release o=linuxmint
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.mate-desktop.org
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: 500


Squeezy

Very good tip, thanks. I did not have Mate pinned. I just set it up and had a ton of updates to Mate.

[wayne128]

Old habits? Gotta get used to the new names for everything
KBD47

I was used to all type of editors ( default on each DE) like gedit, mousepad, leafpad etc...
until:
1. at time gedit was down.. bug.. some distros gedit does not even want to work
2. the most important thing change to me,, during d.u. at time I lost graphic and get into only terminal mode... haha, how to edit stuff using graphic editor with no X?
that was when I played with some editor in text mode..
after a while I use nano most of the time, because I can still do copy, paste, move cursor around,
when all is done, ctrl x, y, and done.
save me time when in terminal mode.

[GeneC]

Wayne

Speaking of having to work from the command line.
I'd bet you have found and used Midnight Commander file manager (mc) ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Commander

Great stuff, when your stuck with only a CLI.



Sorry, to KBD for getting a little off-topic.

[wayne128]

Gene,

yes found mc sometime back. Not using yet.. have been surviving with just nano,

in Win OS, when I helped others and maintain all comps for kids, I always use dual panel file manager.. Had a licensed copy of windows commander way back in 90's and still useful because it gave me free update/upgrade to now Total commander.

when in linux I change to have all data outside the computer, everything important are either in usb drive, or DVD.. during past two years, three hard disks suddenly stop working ( a 6-yr old laptop,, a 5-yr old desktop,, and a one-week old seagate 2.5in 500G USB drive )

So now i have less things to 'maintain' and manage, more time to play multiboot, and no longer on hard disk crash

[squeezy]

Squeezy

Very good tip, thanks. I did not have Mate pinned. I just set it up and had a ton of updates to Mate.

The update I like best is in the System Monitor, the old stretched cat is replaced with a nice MATE logo

Pinning the Mint and MATE repos at the same level means that one won't dominate. Whoever does an update first, Mint or MATE, you'll get notified