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<p><a name="ch-getting"></a></p>
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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
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<br>Chapter 2 - Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux
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The official document giving installation instructions is the <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual">Debian GNU/Linux
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Installation Guide</a></code>. We'll give some additional notes about getting
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and installing Debian GNU/Linux here.
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<h2><a name="s-version"></a>2.1 What is the latest version of Debian?</h2>
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Currently there are three versions of Debian GNU/Linux:
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<dt><em>release 4.0, a.k.a. the `stable' distribution</em></dt>
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This is stable and well tested software, it changes if major security or
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usability fixes are incorporated.
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<dt><em>the `testing' distribution</em></dt>
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This is where packages that will be released as the next `stable' are placed;
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they've had some testing in unstable but they may not be completely fit for
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release yet. This distribution is updated more often than `stable', but not
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more often than `unstable'.
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<dt><em>the `unstable' distribution</em></dt>
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This is the version currently under development; it is updated continuously.
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You can retrieve packages from the `unstable' archive on any Debian FTP site
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and use them to upgrade your system at any time, but you may not expect the
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system to be as usable or as stable as before - that's why it's called
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`<strong>unstable</strong>'!
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Please see <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dists">How many Debian
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distributions are there in the <samp>dists</samp> directory?, Section 5.2</a>
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<h2><a name="s-updatestable"></a>2.2 Are there package upgrades in `stable'?</h2>
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No new functionality is added to the stable release. Once a Debian version is
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released and tagged `stable' it will only get security updates. That is, only
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packages for which a security vulnerability has been found after the release
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will be upgraded. All the security updates are served through <code><a
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href="ftp://security.debian.org">security.debian.org</a></code>.
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Security updates serve one purpose: to supply a fix for a security
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vulnerability. They are not a method for sneaking additional changes into the
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stable release without going through normal point release procedure.
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Consequently, fixes for packages with security issues will not upgrade the
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software. The Debian Security Team will backport the necessary fixes to the
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version of the software distributed in `stable' instead.
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For more information related to security support please read the <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/security/faq">Security FAQ</a></code> or the
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<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/">Debian
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Security Manual</a></code>.
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<h2><a name="s-boot-floppies"></a>2.3 Where/how can I get the Debian installation disks?</h2>
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You can get the installation disks by downloading the appropriate files from
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one of the <code><a href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">Debian
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The installation system files are separated in subdirectories of
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<code>dists/stable/main</code> directory, and the names of these subdirectories
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correspond to your architecture like this: <samp>disks-<var>arch</var></samp>
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(<var>arch</var> is "i386", "sparc", etc, check the site
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for an exact list). In each of these architecture subdirectories there can be
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several directories, each for a version of the installation system, and the
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currently used one is in the `current' directory (that's a symbolic link).
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See the <code>README.txt</code> file in that directory for further
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<h2><a name="s-cdrom"></a>2.4 How do I install the Debian from CD-ROMs?</h2>
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Linux supports the ISO 9660 (CD-ROM) file system with Rock Ridge extensions
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(formerly known as "High Sierra"). Several <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/">vendors</a></code> provide Debian
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GNU/Linux in this format.
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Warning: When installing from CD-ROM, it is usually not a good idea to choose
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dselect's <samp>cdrom</samp> access method. This method is usually very slow.
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The <samp>mountable</samp> and <samp>apt</samp> methods, for example, are much
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better for installing from CD-ROM (see <a
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href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-dpkg-mountable">dpkg-mountable, Section 8.2.5</a>
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and <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-apt">apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom, Section
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<h2><a name="s-cdimage-symlinks"></a>2.5 Why does the official stable released CD-ROM contain symlinks for `frozen' and `unstable'? I thought this CD contains just `stable'!</h2>
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Official Debian CD images indeed contain symlinks like:
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/dists/frozen -> sarge/
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/dists/stable -> sarge/
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/dists/testing -> sarge/
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/dists/unstable -> sarge/
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so that they work when your sources.list has an entry like
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deb cdrom:[<name as on cd label>]/ unstable main [...]
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The fact these symlinks are present does <em>not</em> mean the image is
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`unstable' or `testing' or anything. Read the CD label in
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<code>/.disk/info</code> to find out which Debian version it contains. This
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information is also present in <code>/README.txt</code> on the CD.
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href="http://www.debian.org/releases/">http://www.debian.org/releases/</a></code>
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to find out what the current `stable' and `testing' releases are.
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<h2><a name="s-cdimages"></a>2.6 I have my own CD-writer, are there CD images available somewhere?</h2>
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Yes. To make it easier for CD vendors to provide high quality disks, we
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provide the <code><a href="http://cdimage.debian.org/">Official CD
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<h2><a name="s-floppy"></a>2.7 Can I install it from a pile of floppy disks?</h2>
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First of all, a warning: whole Debian GNU/Linux is way too large to be
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installed from media as small as a standard 1.44MB floppy disk - you may not
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find installing from floppies a very pleasant experience.
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Copy the Debian packages onto formatted floppy disks. Either a DOS, the native
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Linux "ext2", or the "minix" format will do; one just has
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to use a mount command appropriate to the floppy being used.
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Using floppy disks has these complications:
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Short MS-DOS file names: If you are trying to place Debian package files onto
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MS-DOS formatted disks, you will find that their names are generally too long,
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and do not conform to the MS-DOS 8.3 filename limitation. To overcome this,
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you would have to use VFAT formatted disks, since VFAT supports longer file
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Large file sizes: Some packages are larger than 1.44 MBytes, and will not fit
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onto a single floppy disk. To solve this problem, use the dpkg-split tool (see
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<a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-split">dpkg-split, Section 7.1.5.2</a>),
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available in the <samp>tools</samp> directory on <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">Debian mirrors</a></code>.
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You must have support in the kernel for floppy disks in order to read and write
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to floppy disk; most kernels come with floppy drive support included in them.
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To mount a floppy disk under the mount point <samp>/floppy</samp> (a directory
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which should have been created during installation), use:
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mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy/
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if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an MS-DOS file system,
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mount -t msdos /dev/fd1 /floppy/
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if the floppy disk is in drive B: and has an MS-DOS file system,
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mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy/
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if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an ext2 (i.e., a normal Linux) file
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<h2><a name="s-remoteinstall"></a>2.8 Can I get and install Debian directly from a remote Internet site?</h2>
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Yes. You can boot the Debian installation system from a set of files you can
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download from our FTP site and its mirrors.
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You can download a small CD image file, create a bootable CD from it, install
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the basic system from it and the rest over the network. For more information
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href="http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/">http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/</a></code>.
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You can also download even smaller floppy disk image files, create bootable
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diskettes from them, start the installation procedure and get the rest of
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Debian over the network. For more information, please see <code><a
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href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst">http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst</a></code>.
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[ <a href="ch-software.en.html">4</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ]
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[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ]
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The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
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version 3.1.5, 17 January 2007<br>
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Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br>
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