Debian

From HerzbubeWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

Overview

This page collects information about the Debian project and the Debian operating system. The information has been gathered from various debian.org resources and is mainly of interest to me because I am not a DD (see glossary) and therefore not terribly familiar with some terms and resources.


General references

On this wiki


External


On a Debian system

  • Debian FAQ : Install package debian-faq, the actual documents are then placed under /usr/share/doc/debian/FAQ


Glossary

DD 
Debian Developer
DPL 
Debian Project Leader
NM 
New Maintainer
DAM 
Debian Account Manager. DD that manages account creation and removal. The DAM has the final decision over an application.
NMU 
Non-Maintainer Upload (details see here)
sid 
Permanent name for the unstable distribution of Debian. Can also be seen as an acronym for "still in development".
WNPP 
Work-Needing and Prospective Packages
RFA 
Request For Adoption (WNPP related). The current maintainer of a package is asking for someone else to maintain the package.
RFH 
Request For Help (WNPP related). The current maintainer of a package needs help in maintaining the package.
ITP 
Intent To Package (WNPP related). Someone has found an interesting piece of software and would like to create a Debian package from this software.
RFP 
Request For Package (WNPP related). Someone has found an interesting piece of software and would like someone else to create a Debian package from this software.
BTS 
Bug Tracking System
PTS 
Package Tracking System
d-i 
Debian Installer
DDP 
Debian Documentation Project
RC 
Release Critical, as in "RC bugs"
DPM 
Debian Package Manager


System administration

Package management

Documentation about Debian package management is located on its own separate page DebianPackageManagement.


/etc/alternatives

If several packages provide a program that fullfils the same function on a system, that function is made accessible in the file system under a generic name (e.g. /usr/bin/editor). Debian's alternatives system is then used to select the actual package/program that will provide the desired functionality.

The "magic" of the alternatives system is made possible through a chain of symbolic links. If we look at, for instance, /usr/bin/editor: 

zapmama2:~# ls -l /usr/bin/editor
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 2009-06-11 20:41 /usr/bin/editor -> /etc/alternatives/editor
zapmama2:~# ls -l /etc/alternatives/editor
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 2009-06-11 13:05 /etc/alternatives/editor -> /usr/bin/vim.tiny
zapmama2:~# ls -l /usr/bin/vim.tiny
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 630340 2008-10-18 02:12 /usr/bin/vim.tiny

An alternative may consist of multiple links that need to be changed together: For instance, not only the editor program needs to be changed, but also the editor man page.

Usually the debconf system is responsible for setting up alternatives, when packages are installed, removed or updated. Alternatives are in "automatic" mode when they are first introduced to the system. In this mode, the debconf system makes sure that the alternative with the highest priority is selected. When the system administrator begins to make manual changes, the alternative moves into "manual" mode, which means that debconf no longer makes automatic choices and it will no longer be the highest-priority-alternative that becomes selected.

To switch between alternatives, use the program update-alternatives. For details, see the program's man page.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.herzbube.ch/index.php/Debian"
Personal tools
francesca