Mint Debian

[Robin]

Please forgive me if this sounds like a totall n00bie question, but:

What is to prevent anyone from installing Linux Mint (perhaps an older, rock-stable version like Mint Xfce 7 and 8 are) and then simply changing the repositories to Debian (Squeeze, Testing, Sid, whatever)?

Are they so far apart as to be incompatible?

Just wondering,
Robin

[justin]

Analogy approved.

Not a good idea, you'd have breakage about on those lines by just flipping the switches to change distro.

[clem]

Robin: The packaging is compatible in terms of format (.deb), not in terms of organization. It's a bit like Spanish and French, they both use the Latin alphabet and they look quite similar to each other, they're quite different though, something might mean something in one and something else or nothing at all in the other. If you install an Ubuntu .deb in Debian, or vice-versa it could depend on other packages that don't exist in that distribution, it could also assume libraries are here instead of there, and so on.... to be brief, Mint has been 100% compatible with Ubuntu, and this edition is 100% compatible with Debian, but Debian and Ubuntu are not compatible distributions, there's a real fork between the two.

Clem.

[zombie]

Have anyone tried to change the Debian repos from testing to unstable? The faster fixing of breakages in Sid seems appealing to me.

[kmb42vt]

@ikey and/or Clem: I'm going to install the current "approved" build which I downloaded before it was "yanked" as it makes for a fine learning experience and as an old geek I simply can't resist. I already have separate /root and /home partitions that is currently used for Mint Main (not to worry, I dual boot) so if I run into the problem of the LMDE install not creating my user directory in the /home partition ( or whatever the problem is exactly), what's the best way to correct that once LMDE is installed?

[kmb42vt]

@kmb42vt : Before installing upgrade the installer. Should actually solve the issues.
Failing that, when it boots up and fails to install due to no /home (old installer) just
switch to tty1(CTRL+ALT+F1) login as root and do this (assuming your username is SOMEUSER ):

Code: Select all

mkdir /home/SOMEUSER
chown SOMEUSER /home/SOMEUSER

Got it. Thanks! Now to upgrade the installer in the live session it should be as simple as opening up the terminal and typing in: "sudo apt-get upgrade mintinstall" if I remember correctly? I know it may sound like a stupid question but I've been using Mint for so long, me old brain has (willingly) forgotten a bit about the not-so-user-friendly days.

[kmb42vt]

@kmb42vt:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install live-installer

Should do the trick. Or use mintUpdate (the lock icon on the tray, deselect all but live-installer)

Thank you much, sir. Using mintUpdate just seemed too easy. I keep forgetting this is Mint we're talking about and not some other non-user-friendly Debian derived distro. You guys are going to set an all new Debian based standard and distro here if you're not careful

[JoeFootball]

I'm going to install the current "approved" build which I downloaded before it was "yanked" as it makes for a fine learning experience and as an old geek I simply can't resist.

Now *that's* the spirit! I too love things that need to be fixed just so I can learn about them.

Joe

[mmesantos1]

Well still running my Mint Debian from last night and is running great. I even upgraded all the packages, I believe 200+ of them and no issue's. Love how light and fast it is. I will keep on pushing it to make sure no issues pop up.

[darco]

I was running the Chromium PPA in LM9 and wanted to get the latest browser running in LMDE (the repos have 5.0 and the dailies are up to 7.0).
I added the ppa source but was curious on which version of Ubuntu I should have chosen (Maverick, Lucid,Karmic...). I went with Karmic.
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

It installed fine but just wasnt sure which distro to choose...

[darco]

Well thats Chrome and I am using the open source, Chromium...

https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+ ... es_filter=

[mmesantos1]

@darco: Isn't this the right deb? http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/eu ... e_i386_deb
Shouldn't really contaminate your debian with ubuntu sources :S

+1 on this, I did a test last year with debian testing and added repo for ubuntu to it and total breakage, not a good idea. Be prepared to fix the badly borked system.

[darco]

I see in the debian forums no one seems to have any issues running ubuntu ppa.....Ill monitor.....seems fine to me

[Robin]

Robin: The packaging is compatible in terms of format (.deb), not in terms of organization. ... If you install an Ubuntu .deb in Debian, or vice-versa it could depend on other packages that don't exist in that distribution, it could also assume libraries are here instead of there, and so on.... to be brief, Mint has been 100% compatible with Ubuntu, and this edition is 100% compatible with Debian, but Debian and Ubuntu are not compatible distributions, there's a real fork between the two.

I really appreciate such a direct explanation, Clem, thank you! I wonder how they ended up so far apart that they are no longer compatible. Nonetheless, it is what it is...

Now a second silly question if it's okay: Is it possible to edit the sources list simply by substituting the word "Squeeze" for the word "testing?" I have read more than one opinion that even Sid is more stable than Testing (???), and stabily matters most on my aging hardware. Since Squeeze is about to become Stable, it seems to me I could have a sweet Minty Squeeze that way!

-Robin

[mmesantos1]

Ok found an issue, this did not happen until I did all 244 updates. I went to check for updates from Mint update and noticed it would freeze during refresh. I then rebooted my PC and from Terminal ran sudo apt-get update and it would freeze as well at the same spot after 2 more reboots and re-run spt-get update. here is the terminal info:

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ems@ems-desktop ~ $ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for ems: 
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing Release.gpg                       
Get:1 http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ testing/main Translation-en            
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ testing/main Translation-en_US           
Hit http://security.debian.org testing/updates Release.gpg                     
Ign http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates/contrib Translation-en         
Ign http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates/contrib Translation-en_US      
Get:2 http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ testing/non-free Translation-en        
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ testing/non-free Translation-en_US       
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing Release                           
Ign http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates/main Translation-en            
Ign http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates/main Translation-en_US         
Ign http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates/non-free Translation-en        
Ign http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates/non-free Translation-en_US     
Hit http://security.debian.org testing/updates Release                         
Hit http://security.debian.org testing/updates/main i386 Packages              
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing/main i386 Packages/DiffIndex      
Hit http://security.debian.org testing/updates/contrib i386 Packages           
Hit http://security.debian.org testing/updates/non-free i386 Packages          
Hit http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing/non-free i386 Packages/DiffIndex  
Get:3 http://packages.linuxmint.com debian Release.gpg [198B]                  
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/import Translation-en            
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/import Translation-en_US         
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/main Translation-en              
Hit http://ftp.debian.org testing Release.gpg                              
Ign http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/contrib Translation-en           
Ign http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/contrib Translation-en_US        
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/main Translation-en_US           
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/upstream Translation-en          
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/upstream Translation-en_US
Get:4 http://packages.linuxmint.com debian Release [6,510B]
Ign http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main Translation-en                  
Ign http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main Translation-en_US               
Ign http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/non-free Translation-en
Ign http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/non-free Translation-en_US
Hit http://ftp.debian.org testing Release                    
Hit http://ftp.debian.org testing/main i386 Packages/DiffIndex                 
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/main i386 Packages
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/upstream i386 Packages
Hit http://ftp.debian.org testing/contrib i386 Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://ftp.debian.org testing/non-free i386 Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/import i386 Packages
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/main i386 Packages
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/upstream i386 Packages
Ign http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/import i386 Packages
Hit http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/main i386 Packages
Hit http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/upstream i386 Packages
Hit http://packages.linuxmint.com debian/import i386 Packages
99% [1 Translation-en bzip2 0B]  

[anticapitalista]

That translation error is because of the debian-multimedia repo. Comment it out and apt-get update will finish.

[anticapitalista]

That translation error is because of the debian-multimedia repo. Comment it out and apt-get update will finish.

Why would you not want debian-multimedia? o_O

The issue that is causing apt-get update to 'stick' is the multimedia repo. (There is a problem at debian.multimedia well on my box at least).
You won't be able to upgrade anything from multimedia until that repo gets fixed.

[kneekoo]

While trying to play fair, installing what's on the default repositories, I bumped into some issues I've also encountered while updating:

Code: Select all

nicu@mintulet ~ $ sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Citire liste de pachete... Terminat
Se construiește arborele de dependență       
Se citesc informațiile de stare... Terminat
Următoarele extra pachete vor fi instalate:
  chromium-browser-inspector libglewmx1.5 libprotobuf6 libv8-2.2.24
Pachete sugerate:
  chromium-browser-l10n
Următoarele pachete NOI vor fi instalate:
  chromium-browser chromium-browser-inspector libglewmx1.5 libprotobuf6 libv8-2.2.24
0 înnoite, 5 nou instalate, 0 de șters și 11 neînnoite.
Este nevoie să descărcați 12,9MB de arhive.
După această operație vor fi folosiți din disc încă 34,0MB.
Vreți să continuați [Y/n]? 
AVERTISMENT: Următoarele pachete nu pot fi autentificate!
  libglewmx1.5 libprotobuf6 libv8-2.2.24 chromium-browser-inspector chromium-browser
Avertisment de autentificare înlocuit.
Luat:1 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main libglewmx1.5 i386 1.5.4-1 [96,2kB]
Luat:2 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main libprotobuf6 i386 2.3.0-4 [363kB]
Luat:3 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main libv8-2.2.24 i386 2.2.24-5 [1.014kB]
Luat:4 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main chromium-browser-inspector all 5.0.375.127~r55887-1 [890kB]
Luat:5 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/main chromium-browser i386 5.0.375.127~r55887-1 [10,5MB]
Aduși: 12,9MB în 8s (1.437kB/s)                                                                                                   
Se selectează pachetul libglewmx1.5, deselectat anterior.
(Se citește baza de date ... 106493 fișiere și directoare actualmente instalate.)
Se despachetează libglewmx1.5 (din .../libglewmx1.5_1.5.4-1_i386.deb) ...
Se selectează pachetul libprotobuf6, deselectat anterior.
Se despachetează libprotobuf6 (din .../libprotobuf6_2.3.0-4_i386.deb) ...
Se selectează pachetul libv8-2.2.24, deselectat anterior.
Se despachetează libv8-2.2.24 (din .../libv8-2.2.24_2.2.24-5_i386.deb) ...
Se selectează pachetul chromium-browser-inspector, deselectat anterior.
Se despachetează chromium-browser-inspector (din .../chromium-browser-inspector_5.0.375.127~r55887-1_all.deb) ...
Se selectează pachetul chromium-browser, deselectat anterior.
Se despachetează chromium-browser (din .../chromium-browser_5.0.375.127~r55887-1_i386.deb) ...
Se procesează declanșatorii pentru gnome-menus ...
Se procesează declanșatorii pentru desktop-file-utils ...
Se procesează declanșatorii pentru menu ...
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0000' near line 5 package 'libglewmx1.5': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0000' near line 5 package 'libglewmx1.5': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0003' near line 5 package 'libprotobuf6': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0003' near line 5 package 'libprotobuf6': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0006' near line 5 package 'libv8-2.2.24': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0006' near line 5 package 'libv8-2.2.24': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0009' near line 5 package 'chromium-browser-inspector': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0009' near line 5 package 'chromium-browser-inspector': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0012' near line 5 package 'chromium-browser': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0012' near line 5 package 'chromium-browser': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0014' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0014' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0016' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0016' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0018' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0018' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0020' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0020' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing maintainer
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0022' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing description
warning, in file '/var/lib/dpkg/updates/0022' near line 6 package 'chromium-browser': missing maintainer
Se procesează declanșatorii pentru man-db ...
Se procesează declanșatorii pentru hicolor-icon-theme ...
Se pregătește libglewmx1.5 (1.5.4-1) ...
Se pregătește libprotobuf6 (2.3.0-4) ...
Se pregătește libv8-2.2.24 (2.2.24-5) ...
Se pregătește chromium-browser-inspector (5.0.375.127~r55887-1) ...
Se pregătește chromium-browser (5.0.375.127~r55887-1) ...
Se procesează declanșatorii pentru menu ...
nicu@mintulet ~ $ 

I don't know what triggers those errors - I might document on other sites. However, noone reported this so you should know it happens. See below, near the end, the missing description/maintainer thing.

[mikeconcepts]

Confirmed if you comment out the multimedia repro you will be able to complete a check for updates.

[secipolla]

Hello, I've been reading this thread for some time. I'm not using mint Debian, just Sid with LXDE in this small 30 GB HD. But I already use Mint's repository for Firefox.
Just to point out some things:
- debian-multimedia.org from time to time has to be commented in sources.list for apt-get update to work. Probably due to its maintenances. It's happening now and it has been happening from time to time (after the update/upgrade, uncomment it again). Hitting Ctrl+C to stop apt-get update also works since the other repositories will have been already updated.
- those "missing maintainer" warnings are just warnings regarding packaging, nothing to worry about. When people get accustomed to updating/upgrading from the command line, they will know what to worry about or not.

If someone needs to have a newer kernel, I suggest to try the Liquorix kernel. It's maintained and has been constantly updated. See forum thread at http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=45151