Getting Software for a Debian System

Getting Software for a Debian System


You need some software for your Debian system. There are gigabytes of software out there, waiting for you—but where do you find software that's packaged for Debian? How do you decide which software archives to use?


Debian packages come from official Debian package repositories, unofficial repositories, and CD-ROMs. You must specify these sources in /etc/apt/sources.list, then use Debian's packaging tools to install software from these sources.




Visit these sites to find the addresses for download sites:


Official Debian mirror


http://www.debian.org/mirror/


Unofficial APT repositories


http://www.apt-get.org


Visit this site for a worldwide list of CD vendors:








Vendors of Debian CDs


http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/


Use the Debian package search page to find individual packages:


Debian packages search page and information


http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages/


The next step is to edit /etc/apt/sources.list with your selected sources. See the Discussion for some sample configurations.