Using apt-get with Debian GNU/Linux

If your Debian GNU/Linux system is connected to the Internet, then there is a simple but powerful way to download and update programs. Versions 2.1 and later of Debian GNU/Linux come with a program named apt-get.

Configuration and use of apt-get:

• If you are behind a firewall (HTTP proxy), then you will need to put the following lines in your /etc/profile:

         http_proxy=http://PROXY:PORT/
         export http_proxy
  

  Of course, you must fill in PROXY (a hostname, like firewall.company.com) and PORT (a port number, like 80 or 8080). Log out and back in to make this change take effect.

• Edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file to indicate which Debian repositories you want to use. If you are running the stable version of Debian, then (in addition to the comments) you should have lines like this:

         deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
         deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
  

  If you are not in the United States, then you may wish to use a Debian mirror site closer to you. See the full list of mirrors for details.

• Type the command:

         apt-get update
  

  to fetch a list of the available packages.

• Type the command:

         apt-get install gnupg
  

  to download and install the latest available version of GPG and any packages it depends on.

• If you wish to be able to deal with PGP 2.x keys, then there are some optional GPG modules you can install; but these are in the non-free section because they use algorithms that are patented in certain countries. To install these modules, type the command:

         apt-get install gpg-rsa gpg-idea
  

  However, please note that since the RSA patent expired in the USA in September 2000, the unstable Debian GPG package now includes the gpg-rsa module by default. Therefore, if you're running unstable, you will only need to use the command:

         apt-get install gpg-idea