This file is indexed.

/usr/share/doc/debian/FAQ/ch-software.en.html is in debian-faq 8.0ubuntu1.

This file is owned by root:root, with mode 0o644.

The actual contents of the file can be viewed below.

  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 20
 21
 22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
 32
 33
 34
 35
 36
 37
 38
 39
 40
 41
 42
 43
 44
 45
 46
 47
 48
 49
 50
 51
 52
 53
 54
 55
 56
 57
 58
 59
 60
 61
 62
 63
 64
 65
 66
 67
 68
 69
 70
 71
 72
 73
 74
 75
 76
 77
 78
 79
 80
 81
 82
 83
 84
 85
 86
 87
 88
 89
 90
 91
 92
 93
 94
 95
 96
 97
 98
 99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">

<html>

<head>

<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

<title>The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Software available in the Debian system</title>

<link href="index.en.html" rel="start">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html" rel="prev">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html" rel="next">
<link href="index.en.html#contents" rel="contents">
<link href="index.en.html#copyright" rel="copyright">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html" rel="chapter" title="1 Definitions and overview">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html" rel="chapter" title="2 Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html" rel="chapter" title="3 Choosing a Debian distribution">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html" rel="chapter" title="4 Compatibility issues">
<link href="ch-software.en.html" rel="chapter" title="5 Software available in the Debian system">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html" rel="chapter" title="6 The Debian FTP archives">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html" rel="chapter" title="7 Basics of the Debian package management system">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html" rel="chapter" title="8 The Debian package management tools">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html" rel="chapter" title="9 Keeping your Debian system up-to-date">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html" rel="chapter" title="10 Debian and the kernel">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html" rel="chapter" title="11 Customizing your installation of Debian GNU/Linux">
<link href="ch-support.en.html" rel="chapter" title="12 Getting support for Debian GNU/Linux">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html" rel="chapter" title="13 Contributing to the Debian Project">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html" rel="chapter" title="14 Redistributing Debian GNU/Linux in a commercial product">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html" rel="chapter" title="15 Changes expected in the next major release of Debian">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html" rel="chapter" title="16 General information about the FAQ">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-whatisfaq" rel="section" title="1.1 What is this FAQ?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-whatisdebian" rel="section" title="1.2 What is Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-linux" rel="section" title="1.3 OK, now I know what Debian is... what is Linux?!">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-non-linux" rel="section" title="1.4 Does Debian just do GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-difference" rel="section" title="1.5 What is the difference between Debian GNU/Linux and other Linux distributions? Why should I choose Debian over some other distribution?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-gnu" rel="section" title="1.6 How does the Debian project fit in or compare with the Free Software Foundation's GNU project?">
<link href="ch-basic_defs.en.html#s-pronunciation" rel="section" title="1.7 How does one pronounce Debian and what does this word mean?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-version" rel="section" title="2.1 What is the latest version of Debian?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-updatestable" rel="section" title="2.2 Are there package upgrades in `stable'?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-boot-floppies" rel="section" title="2.3 Where/how can I get the Debian installation disks?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-cdrom" rel="section" title="2.4 How do I install the Debian from CD-ROMs?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-cdimage-symlinks" rel="section" title="2.5 Why does the official stable released CD-ROM contain symlinks for `frozen' and `unstable'? I thought this CD contains just `stable'!">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-remoteinstall" rel="section" title="2.6 Can I get and install Debian directly from a remote Internet site?">
<link href="ch-getting.en.html#s-alternativebootinstaller" rel="section" title="2.7 Are there any alternative strategies for booting the system installer?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1" rel="section" title="3.1 Which Debian distribution (stable/testing/unstable) is better for me?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2" rel="section" title="3.2 But what about Knoppix, Linex, Ubuntu, and others?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-arches" rel="section" title="4.1 On what hardware architectures/systems does Debian GNU/Linux run?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-kernels" rel="section" title="4.2 What kernels does Debian GNU/Linux run?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-otherdistribs" rel="section" title="4.3 How compatible is Debian with other distributions of Linux?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-otherunices" rel="section" title="4.4 How source code compatible is Debian with other Unix systems?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-otherpackages" rel="section" title="4.5 Can I use Debian packages (&quot;.deb&quot; files) on my Red Hat/Slackware/... Linux system? Can I use Red Hat packages (&quot;.rpm&quot; files) on my Debian GNU/Linux system?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-non-debian-programs" rel="section" title="4.6 How should I install a non-Debian program?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-termcap" rel="section" title="4.7 Why can't I compile programs that require libtermcap?">
<link href="ch-compat.en.html#s-accelx" rel="section" title="4.8 Why can't I install AccelX?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-apps" rel="section" title="5.1 What types of applications and development software are available for Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-softwareauthors" rel="section" title="5.2 Who wrote all that software?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-pkglist" rel="section" title="5.3 How can I get a current list of programs that have been packaged for Debian?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-buildenv" rel="section" title="5.4 How can I install a developer's environment to build packages?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-missing" rel="section" title="5.5 What is missing from Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-no-devs" rel="section" title="5.6 Why do I get &quot;ld: cannot find -lfoo&quot; messages when compiling programs? Why aren't there any libfoo.so files in Debian library packages?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-java" rel="section" title="5.7 (How) Does Debian support Java?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-isitdebian" rel="section" title="5.8 How can I check that I am using a Debian system, and what version is it?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-nonenglish" rel="section" title="5.9 How does Debian support non-English languages?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-pine" rel="section" title="5.10 Where is pine?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-qmail" rel="section" title="5.11 Where is qmail/ezmlm/djbdns?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-flash" rel="section" title="5.12 Where is a player for Flash (SWF)?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-googleearth" rel="section" title="5.13 Where is Google Earth?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-voip" rel="section" title="5.14 Where is VoIP software?">
<link href="ch-software.en.html#s-nonfreewireless" rel="section" title="5.15 I have a wireless network card which doesn't work with Linux. What should I do?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dists" rel="section" title="6.1 How many Debian distributions are there?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-codenames" rel="section" title="6.2 What are all those names like etch, lenny, etc.?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-sid" rel="section" title="6.3 What about &quot;sid&quot;?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-stable" rel="section" title="6.4 What does the stable directory contain?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-testing" rel="section" title="6.5 What does the testing distribution contain?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-unstable" rel="section" title="6.6 What does the unstable distribution contain?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dirtree" rel="section" title="6.7 What are all those directories at the Debian FTP archives?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-archsections" rel="section" title="6.8 What are all those directories inside dists/stable/main?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-source" rel="section" title="6.9 Where is the source code?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-pools" rel="section" title="6.10 What's in the pool directory?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-incoming" rel="section" title="6.11 What is &quot;incoming&quot;?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-ownrepository" rel="section" title="6.12 How do I set up my own apt-able repository?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-package" rel="section" title="7.1 What is a Debian package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-deb-format" rel="section" title="7.2 What is the format of a Debian binary package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-pkgname" rel="section" title="7.3 Why are Debian package file names so long?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-controlfile" rel="section" title="7.4 What is a Debian control file?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-conffile" rel="section" title="7.5 What is a Debian conffile?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-maintscripts" rel="section" title="7.6 What is a Debian preinst, postinst, prerm, and postrm script?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-priority" rel="section" title="7.7 What is an Essential, Required, Important, Standard, Optional, or Extra package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-virtual" rel="section" title="7.8 What is a Virtual Package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-depends" rel="section" title="7.9 What is meant by saying that a package Depends, Recommends, Suggests, Conflicts, Replaces, Breaks or Provides another package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-pre-depends" rel="section" title="7.10 What is meant by Pre-Depends?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-pkgstatus" rel="section" title="7.11 What is meant by unknown, install, remove, purge and hold in the package status?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-puttingonhold" rel="section" title="7.12 How do I put a package on hold?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-sourcepkgs" rel="section" title="7.13 How do I install a source package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-sourcebuild" rel="section" title="7.14 How do I build binary packages from a source package?">
<link href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-creatingdebs" rel="section" title="7.15 How do I create Debian packages myself?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-pkgprogs" rel="section" title="8.1 What programs does Debian provide for managing its packages?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-updaterunning" rel="section" title="8.2 Debian claims to be able to update a running program; how is this accomplished?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-whatpackages" rel="section" title="8.3 How can I tell what packages are already installed on a Debian system?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-listfiles" rel="section" title="8.4 How to display the files of a package installed?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-filesearch" rel="section" title="8.5 How can I find out what package produced a particular file?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-datapackages" rel="section" title="8.6 Why doesn't get `foo-data' removed when I uninstall `foo'? How do I make sure old unused library-packages get purged?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-howtocurrent" rel="section" title="9.1 How can I keep my Debian system current?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-upgradesingle" rel="section" title="9.2 Must I go into single user mode in order to upgrade a package?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-savedebs" rel="section" title="9.3 Do I have to keep all those .deb archive files on my disk?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-keepingalog" rel="section" title="9.4 How can I keep a log of the packages I added to the system? I'd like to know when which package upgrades and removals have occured!">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-autoupdate" rel="section" title="9.5 Can I automatically update the system?">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-aptproxy" rel="section" title="9.6 I have several machines how can I download the updates only one time?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-non-debian-kernel" rel="section" title="10.1 Can I install and compile a kernel without some Debian-specific tweaking?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-customkernel" rel="section" title="10.2 What tools does Debian provide to build custom kernels?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-custombootdisk" rel="section" title="10.3 How can I make a custom boot floppy?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-modules" rel="section" title="10.4 What special provisions does Debian provide to deal with modules?">
<link href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-removeoldkernel" rel="section" title="10.5 Can I safely de-install an old kernel package, and if so, how?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-papersize" rel="section" title="11.1 How can I ensure that all programs use the same paper size?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-hardwareaccess" rel="section" title="11.2 How can I provide access to hardware peripherals, without compromising security?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-consolefont" rel="section" title="11.3 How do I load a console font on startup the Debian way?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-appdefaults" rel="section" title="11.4 How can I configure an X11 program's application defaults?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-booting" rel="section" title="11.5 Every distribution seems to have a different boot-up method. Tell me about Debian's.">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-custombootscripts" rel="section" title="11.6 What other facilities are provided to customize the boot process besides rc.local?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-interconffiles" rel="section" title="11.7 How does the package management system deal with packages that contain configuration files for other packages?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-divert" rel="section" title="11.8 How do I override a file installed by a package, so that a different version can be used instead?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-localpackages" rel="section" title="11.9 How can I have my locally-built package included in the list of available packages that the package management system knows about?">
<link href="ch-customizing.en.html#s-diverse" rel="section" title="11.10 Some users like mawk, others like gawk; some like vim, others like elvis; some like trn, others like tin; how does Debian support diversity?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-debiandocs" rel="section" title="12.1 What other documentation exists on and for a Debian system?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-onlineresources" rel="section" title="12.2 Are there any on-line resources for discussing Debian?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-searchtools" rel="section" title="12.3 Is there a quick way to search for information on Debian GNU/Linux?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-buglogs" rel="section" title="12.4 Are there logs of known bugs?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-bugreport" rel="section" title="12.5 How do I report a bug in Debian?">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contrib" rel="section" title="13.1 How can I become a Debian software developer?">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contribresources" rel="section" title="13.2 How can I contribute resources to the Debian project?">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-supportingorganizations" rel="section" title="13.3 How can I contribute financially to the Debian project?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-sellcds" rel="section" title="14.1 Can I make and sell Debian CDs?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-packagednonfree" rel="section" title="14.2 Can Debian be packaged with non-free software?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-childistro" rel="section" title="14.3 I am making a special Linux distribution for a &quot;vertical market&quot;. Can I use Debian GNU/Linux for the guts of a Linux system and add my own applications on top of it?">
<link href="ch-redistrib.en.html#s-commercialdebs" rel="section" title="14.4 Can I put my commercial program in a Debian &quot;package&quot; so that it installs effortlessly on any Debian system?">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-hardening" rel="section" title="15.1 Hardening the system">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-i18n" rel="section" title="15.2 Extended support for non-English users">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-dependencybasedboot" rel="section" title="15.3 Faster booting: Dependency based boot sequence">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-di" rel="section" title="15.4 Improvements in the Debian Installer">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-morearches" rel="section" title="15.5 More architectures">
<link href="ch-nexttime.en.html#s-morekernels" rel="section" title="15.6 More kernels">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors" rel="section" title="16.1 Authors">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-feedback" rel="section" title="16.2 Feedback">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-latest" rel="section" title="16.3 Availability">
<link href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-docformat" rel="section" title="16.4 Document format">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.1" rel="subsection" title="3.1.1 You asked me to install stable, but in stable so and so hardware is not detected/working. What should I do?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.2" rel="subsection" title="3.1.2 Will there be different versions of packages in different distributions?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.3" rel="subsection" title="3.1.3 The stable distributions really contains outdated packages. Just look at Kde, Gnome, Xorg or even the kernel. They are very old. Why is it so?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.4" rel="subsection" title="3.1.4 If I were to decide to change to another distribution, Can I do that?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.5" rel="subsection" title="3.1.5 Could you tell me whether to install stable, testing or unstable?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.6" rel="subsection" title="3.1.6 You are talking about testing being broken. What do you mean by that?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.7" rel="subsection" title="3.1.7 Why is it that testing could be broken for months? Won't the fixes introduced in unstable flow directly down into testing?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.8" rel="subsection" title="3.1.8 From an administrator's point of view, Which distribution requires more attention?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.9" rel="subsection" title="3.1.9 What happens when a new release is made?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.10" rel="subsection" title="3.1.10 I have a working Desktop/cluster with Debian installed. How do I know which distribution I am running?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.11" rel="subsection" title="3.1.11 I am currently tracking stable. Can I change to testing or unstable? If so, How?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.12" rel="subsection" title="3.1.12 I am currently tracking testing (stretch). What will happen when a release is made? Will I still be tracking testing or will my machine be running the new stable distribution?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.1.13" rel="subsection" title="3.1.13 I am still confused. What did you say I should install?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2.1" rel="subsection" title="3.2.1 I know that Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... is Debian-based. So after installing it on the hard disk, can I use 'apt' package tools on it?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2.2" rel="subsection" title="3.2.2 I installed Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... on my hard disk. Now I have a problem. What should I do?">
<link href="ch-choosing.en.html#s3.2.3" rel="subsection" title="3.2.3 I'm using Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... and now I want to use Debian. How do I migrate?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-oldcodenames" rel="subsection" title="6.2.1 Which other codenames have been used in the past?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-sourceforcodenames" rel="subsection" title="6.2.2 Where do these codenames come from?">
<link href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-frozen" rel="subsection" title="6.5.1 What about &quot;testing&quot;? How is it `frozen'?">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg" rel="subsection" title="8.1.1 dpkg">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-apt-get" rel="subsection" title="8.1.2 APT">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-aptitude" rel="subsection" title="8.1.3 aptitude">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-synaptic" rel="subsection" title="8.1.4 synaptic">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-tasksel" rel="subsection" title="8.1.5 tasksel">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-extra" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6 Other package management tools">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dselect" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6.1 dselect">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-deb" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6.2 dpkg-deb">
<link href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-split" rel="subsection" title="8.1.6.3 dpkg-split">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-aptitude-upgrade" rel="subsection" title="9.1.1 aptitude">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-apt" rel="subsection" title="9.1.2 apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-mirror" rel="subsection" title="9.1.3 mirror">
<link href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-dpkg-mountable" rel="subsection" title="9.1.4 dpkg-mountable">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.1" rel="subsection" title="12.2.1 Mailing lists">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s-mailinglistconduct" rel="subsection" title="12.2.1.1 What is the code of conduct for the mailing lists?">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.2" rel="subsection" title="12.2.2 Web forums">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.3" rel="subsection" title="12.2.3 Wiki">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.4" rel="subsection" title="12.2.4 Maintainers">
<link href="ch-support.en.html#s12.2.5" rel="subsection" title="12.2.5 Usenet newsgroups">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-SPI" rel="subsection" title="13.3.1 Software in the Public Interest">
<link href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-TrustedOrgs" rel="subsection" title="13.3.2 Other organizations">

</head>

<body>

<p><a name="ch-software"></a></p>
<hr>

<p>
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">previous</a> ]
[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-getting.en.html">2</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-choosing.en.html">3</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">4</a> ]
[ 5 ]
[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">6</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">7</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">8</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">9</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">10</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">11</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">12</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">13</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">14</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">15</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">16</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">next</a> ]
</p>

<hr>

<h1>
The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
<br>Chapter 5 - Software available in the Debian system
</h1>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-apps">5.1 What types of applications and development software are available for Debian GNU/Linux?</h2>

<p>
Like most Linux distributions, Debian GNU/Linux provides:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
the major GNU applications for software development, file manipulation, and
text processing, including gcc, g++, make, texinfo, Emacs, the Bash shell and
numerous upgraded Unix utilities,
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk and various related programs, modules and libraries for
each of them,
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
TeX (LaTeX) and Lyx, dvips, Ghostscript,
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
the Xorg windowing system, which provides a networked graphical user interface
for Linux, and countless X applications including the GNOME, KDE and Xfce
desktop environments.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
a full suite of networking applications, including servers for Internet
protocols such as HTTP (WWW), FTP, NNTP (news), SMTP and POP (mail) and DNS
(name servers); relational databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL; also provided are
web browsers including the various Mozilla products [<a
href="footnotes.en.html#f1" name="fr1">1</a>],
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
a complete set of office applications, including the OpenOffice.org
productivity suite, Gnumeric and other spreadsheets, WYSIWYG editors,
calendars.
</p>
</li>
</ul>

<p>
More than 42304 packages, ranging from news servers and readers to sound
support, FAX programs, database and spreadsheet programs, image processing
programs, communications, net, and mail utilities, Web servers, and even
ham-radio programs are included in the distribution.  Another 696 software
suites are available as Debian packages, but are not formally part of Debian
due to license restrictions.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-softwareauthors">5.2 Who wrote all that software?</h2>

<p>
For each package the <em>authors</em> of the program(s) are credited in the
file <samp>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/copyright</samp>, where PACKAGE is to be
substituted with the package's name.
</p>

<p>
<em>Maintainers</em> who package this software for the Debian GNU/Linux system
are listed in the Debian control file (see <a
href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html#s-controlfile">What is a Debian control file?,
Section 7.4</a>) that comes with each package.  The Debian changelog, in
<samp>/usr/share/doc/PACKAGE/changelog.Debian.gz</samp>, mentions the people
who've worked on the Debian packaging too.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-pkglist">5.3 How can I get a current list of programs that have been packaged for Debian?</h2>

<p>
A complete list is available from any of the <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/ftplist">Debian mirrors</a></code>, in the
file <samp>indices/Maintainers</samp>.  That file includes the package names
and the names and e-mails of their respective maintainers.
</p>

<p>
The <code><a href="http://packages.debian.org/">WWW interface to the Debian
packages</a></code> conveniently summarizes the packages in each of about
thirty &quot;sections&quot; of the Debian archive.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-buildenv">5.4 How can I install a developer's environment to build packages?</h2>

<p>
If you want to build packages in your Debian system you will need to have a
basic development environment, including a C/C++ compiler and some other
essential packages.  In order to install this environment you just need to
install the <code>build-essential</code>.  This package is a meta-package or
place-holder package which depends on the standard development tools one needs
to build a Debian package.
</p>

<p>
Some software can, however, need additional software to be rebuilt, including
library headers or additional tools such as <code>autoconf</code> or
<code>gettext</code>.  Debian provides many of the tools needed to build other
software as Debian packages.
</p>

<p>
Finding which software is precisely required can be tricky, however, unless you
are planning on rebuilding Debian packages.  This last task is rather easy to
do, as official packages have to include a list of the additional software
(besides the packages in <code>build-essential</code>) needed to build the
pacakge, this is known as <samp>Build-Dependencies</samp>.  To install all the
packages needed to build a given source package and then build said source
package you can just run:
</p>

<pre>
     # apt-get build-dep <var>foo</var>
     # apt-get source --build <var>foo</var>
</pre>

<p>
Notice that if you want to build the Linux kernels distributed by Debian you
will want to install also the <code>kernel-package</code> package.  For more
information see <a href="ch-kernel.en.html#s-customkernel">What tools does
Debian provide to build custom kernels?, Section 10.2</a>.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-missing">5.5 What is missing from Debian GNU/Linux?</h2>

<p>
A list of packages which are still needed to be packaged for Debian exists, the
<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/">Work-Needing and Prospective
Packages list</a></code>.
</p>

<p>
For more details about adding the missing things, see <a
href="ch-contributing.en.html#s-contrib">How can I become a Debian software
developer?, Section 13.1</a>.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-no-devs">5.6 Why do I get &quot;ld: cannot find -lfoo&quot; messages when compiling programs? Why aren't there any libfoo.so files in Debian library packages?</h2>

<p>
Debian Policy requires that such symbolic links (to libfoo.so.x.y.z or similar)
are placed in separate, development packages.  Those packages are usually named
libfoo-dev or libfooX-dev (presuming the library package is named libfooX, and
X is a whole number).
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-java">5.7 (How) Does Debian support Java?</h2>

<p>
Several <em>free</em> implementations of Java technology are available as
Debian packages, providing both Java Development Kits as well as Runtime
Environments.  You can write, debug and run Java programs using Debian.
</p>

<p>
Running a Java applet requires a web browser with the capability to recognize
and execute them.  Several web browsers available in Debian, such as Mozilla or
Konqueror, support Java plug-ins that enable running Java applets within them.
</p>

<p>
Please refer to the <code><a
href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-java-faq/">Debian Java
FAQ</a></code> for more information.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-isitdebian">5.8 How can I check that I am using a Debian system, and what version is it?</h2>

<p>
In order to make sure that your system has been installed from the real Debian
base disks, use the
</p>

<pre>
     lsb_release -a
</pre>

<p>
command.  It will display the name of the distribution (in Distributor ID
field) and the version of the system (in Release and Codename fields).  The
following is an example run in a Debian system:
</p>

<pre>
     $ lsb_release -a
     No LSB modules are available.
     Distributor ID: Debian
     Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 7.4 (wheezy)
     Release:    7.4
     Codename:   wheezy
</pre>

<p>
You can also check for the existence of <samp>/etc/debian_version</samp> file,
which contains a single one-line entry giving the version number of the
release, as defined by the package <samp>base-files</samp>.
</p>

<p>
Users should be aware, however, that the Debian system consists of many parts,
each of which can be updated (almost) independently.  Each Debian
&quot;release&quot; contains well defined and unchanging contents.  Updates are
separately available.  For a one-line description of the installation status of
package <samp>foo</samp>, use the command <samp>dpkg --list foo</samp>.  To
view versions of all installed packages, run:
</p>

<pre>
     dpkg -l
</pre>

<p>
For a more verbose description, use:
</p>

<pre>
     dpkg --status foo
</pre>

<p>
Note that the existence of the program <samp>dpkg</samp> shows that you should
be able to install Debian packages on your system.  However, since the program
has been ported to many other operating systems and architectures, this is no
longer a reliable method of determining is a system Debian GNU/Linux.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-nonenglish">5.9 How does Debian support non-English languages?</h2>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Debian GNU/Linux is distributed with keymaps for nearly two dozen keyboards,
and with utilities (in the <samp>kbd</samp> package) to install, view, and
modify the tables.
</p>

<p>
The installation prompts the user to specify the keyboard he will use.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Vast majority of the software we packaged supports entering non-US-ASCII
characters used in other Latin languages (e.g.  ISO-8859-1 or ISO-8859-2), and
a number of programs support multi-byte languages such as Japanese or Chinese.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<p>
Currently, support for German-, Spanish-, Finnish-, French-, Hungarian-,
Italian-, Japanese-, Korean-, Dutch-, Polish-, Portuguese-, Russian-, Turkish-,
and Chinese-language manual pages is provided through the
<samp>manpages-LANG</samp> packages (where LANG is the two-letter ISO country
code).  To access an NLS manual page, the user must set the shell LC_MESSAGES
variable to the appropriate string.
</p>

<p>
For example, in the case of the Italian-language manual pages, LC_MESSAGES
needs to be set to 'italian'.  The <code>man</code> program will then search
for Italian manual pages under <samp>/usr/share/man/it/</samp>.
</p>
</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-pine">5.10 Where is pine?</h2>

<p>
Due to its restrictive license, it's in the non-free area.  Moreover, since
license does not even allow modified binaries to be distributed, you have to
compile it yourself from the source and the Debian patches.
</p>

<p>
The source package name is <code>pine</code>.  You can use the
<code>pine-tracker</code> package to be notified about when you need to
upgrade.
</p>

<p>
Note that there are many replacements for both pine and pico, such as
<code>mutt</code> and <code>nano</code>, that are located in the main section.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-qmail">5.11 Where is qmail/ezmlm/djbdns?</h2>

<p>
Dan J.  Bernstein used to distribute <code><a
href="http://cr.yp.to/software.html">all software he has written</a></code>
with a restrictive license which does not allow modified binaries to be
distributed.  In november 2007 however, Bernstein said &quot;[...] i have
decided to put all of my future and [...] past software into the public
domain&quot;.  See <code><a href="http://cr.yp.to/distributors.html">FAQ from
distributors</a></code> for his distribution terms.
</p>

<p>
As of 2008-09, <code>daemontools</code>, <code>djbdns</code> and
<code>ucspi-tcp</code> are shipped with Debian lenny (in main).  As of this
writing (2008-09), <code>qmail</code> nor <code>ezmlm</code> is shipped with
Debian main; see <code><a href="http://bugs.debian.org/457318">Bug #457318 (ITP
qmail)</a></code> and <code><a href="http://bugs.debian.org/469193">Bug #469193
(ITP ezmlm-idx)</a></code> for the current status.
</p>

<p>
As of 2008-09, <samp>publicfile</samp> was still not free software.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-flash">5.12 Where is a player for Flash (SWF)?</h2>

<p>
Debian ships both <code>gnash</code> and <code>swfdec</code>: two free SWF
movie players.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-googleearth">5.13 Where is Google Earth?</h2>

<p>
Google Earth is available for GNU/Linux from Google's web site, but is not only
not Free Software, but is completely undistributable by a third party.
However, <code>googleearth-package</code> (in the contrib-section) might be
helpful in using this software.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-voip">5.14 Where is VoIP software?</h2>

<p>
Two main open protocols are used for Voice Over IP: SIP and H.323.  Both are
implemented by a wide variety of software in Debian main.  <code>ekiga</code>
is one of the popular clients.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-nonfreewireless">5.15 I have a wireless network card which doesn't work with Linux. What should I do?</h2>

<p>
Buy one which does :)
</p>

<p>
Alternatively, use <code>ndiswrapper</code> to use a driver for Windows (if you
have one) on your Linux system.  See the <code><a
href="http://wiki.debian.org/NdisWrapper">Debian Wiki ndiswrapper
page</a></code> for more information.
</p>

<hr>

<p>
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">previous</a> ]
[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-getting.en.html">2</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-choosing.en.html">3</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">4</a> ]
[ 5 ]
[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">6</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">7</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">8</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">9</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">10</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">11</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">12</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">13</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">14</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">15</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">16</a> ]
[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">next</a> ]
</p>

<hr>

<p>
The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
</p>

<address>
version 8.0ubuntu1, 29 December 2015<br>
<br>
Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br>
<br>
</address>
<hr>

</body>

</html>