Some question about the great Devuan

unixuser · 2024-09-13 21:10:39

Hi everybody,

first, I want to tell that I'm impressed by Devuan, ATM I am trying it into a vm and running a system with a desktop under 200mo RAM is sick... I always used X11, but I think it's time to evolve... So here I am (debian + systemd free + wayland looks the perfect combination).

But before installing on my laptop, I have some fears and questions :

- I never used sysVinit directly (only systemd, openrc et runit), and I find it's hard to find documentation about it. I don't even know how to see what daemon are running. I'll searsh more...

- Why is there a geoclue.agent.desktop into autostart ?

- And the most important for me, the packets managers, apt. I am a total NOOB with apt, so I have idiots questions but... I think a forum is done for that.

I tryed to install, let's say firefox.
>>> "firefox has no installation candidate"

Ok so, I search into devuan packages, I find it is into : http://deb.devuan.org/merged ceres/main amd64

I add it into /etc/apt/sources.list OR */sources.list.d/file.list

>>> "this repo does not have a Realese file"

Whatever the synthax, whatever I add it to /etc/apt/source.list.d/file.list... even adding the [allow-insecure=true] tag... I think when we know how to do it, it is easy as abc, but I can't find the right way.

Sorry for newbitude and thx in advance if anyone answer.

quickfur · 2024-09-13 23:18:00

The typical way I install a new package is:

1) Run `apt-get update` to get the latest package lists.

2) If I don't already know the exact package name, `apt-cache search firefox` will give me a list of actual packages that contain "firefox" in the name or description. If that returns too many, you can narrow it down with `apt-cache search ^firefox` which returns only a list of packages whose names start with "firefox". From the list, it should be obvious that the correct package name is "firefox-esr".

3) Install the package with its actual name: `apt-get install firefox-esr`.

4) You're all set to go.

quickfur · 2024-09-13 23:22:35

For finding which daemons are running, I usually just use ps or pstree (`apt-get install psmisc` if you don't already have pstree installed). Usually `ps -ax` will do the trick.

In a sysvinit system, your daemon control scripts will be in /etc/init.d/* and /etc/rc*.d/*. For almost all normal use cases, you can ignore the latter; just use the scripts in /etc/init.d/* to start/reload/stop a daemon. For example:

/etc/init.d/apache2 start   # start apache2 daemon
/etc/init.d/apache2 reload  # tell apache2 daemon to reload config
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart # stop and restart apache2 daemon
/etc/init.d/apache2 stop    # stop apache2 daemon

quickfur · 2024-09-13 23:25:17

As far as your apt sources, /etc/apt/sources.list should look something like this:

# You can delete "non-free" if you're adamant about FOSS-only software
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus main contrib non-free
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-security main contrib non-free

# Uncomment this if you need backports for whatever reason
#deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-backports main

# This is only if you're interested in downloading source packages, if not just skip these lines
deb-src http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus main
deb-src http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus-security main

Oh, and replace "daedalus" with "ceres" or whatever if you want a different release.

Last edited by quickfur (2024-09-13 23:27:18)

Andre4freedom · 2024-09-14 08:01:19

Dear Unixuser,
as a unix user, you would certainly know the InitSysV, it's the default in Devuan. But you can choose OpenRC during the installation. If you are familiar with, what holds you back? It's my favourite and I'm happy with it.
Another remark: it's a mighty bad idea to install packages from Ceres when you use Daedalus, see the remarks from quickfur. Always stick to the chosen release.
If firefox-esr is not what you want, then you can install the tar.gz file from the Mozilla download site:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/download/thanks/
firefox-130.0.tar.bz2. I always use the 64bit version. There are instructions to follow. Ideally put the extracted files into /opt/firefox.
Make your own desktop-launchers..... some fiddling required, but all subsequent updates are painless and easy.
Good luck. (an old Unix pro of olden times)

unixuser · 2024-09-14 09:57:35

Thanks for the answers, quickfur and Andre. I was really clueless about apt tool...

The init system looks even easier than others !
@Andre, as cs student, I wanna know the max of unix stuff, and while sysVinit is the legacy init, I really want to use it with Devuan.

Thanks again for answers guys, this day I installing and configuring my new system Devuan. I'll be back

swanson · 2024-09-14 10:15:53

Other nice apps are sysv-rc-conf for sysvinit management. And Synaptic for a GUI to app management. Also, there's an alternative to apt and that is aptitude, which some prefer.

stopAI · 2024-09-14 10:47:57

Hello.

For sysvinit management you can use package

sysv-rc-conf

This package provides a terminal GUI for managing "/etc/rc{runlevel}.d/" symlinks. The interface comes in two different flavors, one that simply allows turning services on or off and another that allows for more fine tuned management of the symlinks. Unlike most runlevel config programs, you can edit startup scripts for any runlevel, not just your current one.

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#1 2024-09-13 21:10:39

Some question about the great Devuan

#2 2024-09-13 23:18:00

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

#3 2024-09-13 23:22:35

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

#4 2024-09-13 23:25:17

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

#5 2024-09-14 08:01:19

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

#6 2024-09-14 09:57:35

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

#7 2024-09-14 10:15:53

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

#8 2024-09-14 10:47:57

Re: Some question about the great Devuan

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