Package management, Skype and other questions

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cluelesscoder

Package management, Skype and other questions

Post by cluelesscoder »

I'd rather have a standard, so that everyone puts these types of things in the same place. I knew that I could put them wherever I want. While allowing that technically is OK, if there's no specific recommendation than you're promoting a messy operating system. If the Linux overall standard doesn't have a recommendation (and it apparently doesn't have one, which is not surprising since it is 90% corporate-funded), then Linux Mint should have one, in my opinion...

Also, is there a way to figure out from synaptic or something where the package you're installing is actually hosted? I see you can browse by origin which gives a rough idea ([strike]as a newbie, I couldn't find the actual packages online[/strike] figured it out, but still don't see any metadata - where is for example the list of dependencies and such stored?), but the properties available from the contex menu doesn't show you which origin the package has.

I don't really like the Software Manager... it seems a bit clunky. When I click the "all programs", it doesn't load. The reviews are potentially interesting, but they are mainly shallow one-liners. How the score is calculated is opaque.

I would also LOVE to see which programs I went ahead and installed rather than the ones which came with the distro. I imagine this is part of the project to work on mintupdate that I heard about...

Also, the only version of Skype that comes up in the package manager is 2.2.0.35-1 even tho Skype published an (according to them) much irmproved 4.0 version per http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/ ... ter/linux/. Do they need to update that, or is there something Mint needs to do? The whole package management system is rather opaque and I would love to learn more of about its details. Tried searching SafariOnline and didn't see much. EDIT: Found out I have to "force version" in Synaptic. Awfully subtle but important trick, which I'll be trying in a bit...
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xenopeek
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Re: Package management, Skype and other questions

Post by xenopeek »

Hi, I split your post from http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&start=20 as you went into more depth than that topic is meant to answer :wink:

I'm not sure if you can see this in Synaptic, but the apt-cache policy command will show you from where you have install your version of a package and which other versions are available. For example, checking the mate-text-editor package (Pluma) you can see I have added a repository so I could upgrade to MATE 1.4 which also gives me Pluma 1.4 (the *** before a version denote the currently installed version):

Code: Select all

vincent@maya ~ $ apt-cache policy mate-text-editor
mate-text-editor:
  Installed: 1.4.0-1+precise
  Candidate: 1.4.0-1+precise
  Version table:
 *** 1.4.0-1+precise 0
        700 http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.2.0-2+precise 0
        700 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya/import amd64 Packages
You can find the Linux Mint packages online here: http://packages.linuxmint.com/. The Ubuntu packages here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/. The Debian packages here: http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages

The Software Manager is being updated for Linux Mint 14 (and backported to Linux Mint 13 and LMDE upon release). The score is an average of the ratings given by users. You can find all the ratings in the software reviews on the Community Site: http://community.linuxmint.com/software/browse.

If you only want to see the programs that you have installed, then do so. See the View menu of the Software Manager and disable showing Available packages, so only showing Installed packages.

Skype is not available in the Ubuntu or Debian repositories, only in the Linux Mint repositories. Linux Mint 14 will come with Skype 4. On Linux Mint 13 probably Skype will stay at its current 2.2 version, so as to not risk breaking anybody's installation. Generally on Ubuntu based distro's, like Linux Mint, packages are only updated on past distro releases to fix security issues. For new versions with new versions you generally have to upgrade to a new distro release, or add so repository or PPA for your current installation.

If you want to understand more about APT (the package management system on Debian based distro's like Ubuntu and Linux Mint), have a read in the Debian Administrator's Handbook. Specifically chapters 5 and 6. You can read it online or download it for free here: http://debian-handbook.info/
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cluelesscoder

Re: Package management, Skype and other questions

Post by cluelesscoder »

OK about changing the topic. Incidentally, with regard to my topic about clarifying the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, it turns out that such a project was announced by the Linux Foundation April 2011 (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collabor ... ps/lsb/fhs) and the home for that project is at https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/en/FHS.

When I say the programs that I installed, I mean the programs that I actually went out and installed. Mint itself comes with a ton of programs, but I'm interested in seeing the ones that I had to add afterwards. Clearly, this is an important part of backup and I think it is part of Mint Backup, although it is a little hard to tell because when I install things, apparently a ton of dependencies get installed and the mintbackup shows everything, including the dependencies (would be nice to group dependencies so they aren't so overwhelming, but oh well).

I did find packages.mint.com and the packages there, but where is the metadata for the packages stored - inside the packages themselves? I looked inside one and couldn't find it.

I ended up installing Skype 4 by using that "force version" in synaptic. After that, I found the webcam didn't work. I found http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/219 but it didn't seem to work. A close read of the comments afterward showed that this tutorial is outdated. The comment directed me to use a path which was also either outdated or incorrect for a 64-bit processor, so I did my own detective work and found the correct path. I've started another thread to discuss this experience, as I'm concerned that there's a tutorial that's outdated and the only apparent way to get it fixed is to mention it in the forum (which is inefficient for these types of things). I started a new thread over at http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 2&t=115351 ("Reducing signal to noise; wikis or improved tutorials") about this.
mascondante

Re: Package management, Skype and other questions

Post by mascondante »

Yeah upon trying to install Skype I get:

Code: Select all

skype:
 Depends: ia32-libs but it is not going to be installed
Checking on ia32-libs it seems the issue is multiarch support isn't yet available in this distro. So I'm assuming that for the moment, no Skype for x64 users playing with Mint 14 RC.
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xenopeek
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Re: Package management, Skype and other questions

Post by xenopeek »

Linux Mint 14 RC 64 bit has a known problem for installing 32 bit applications, as detailed by Clem here: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2211. It will be fixed in the final release :D

If you are on the RC, you just need to run these two commands from the terminal so you can install 32 bit applications again:

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
apt update
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mascondante

Re: Package management, Skype and other questions

Post by mascondante »

Thank you for the update, Vincent :-).
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