How to install .deb .tar.gz .tra.bz2?

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joel
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Joined: Thu 26 Feb 2009, 16:39
Location: Buffalo, NY & Nottingham, England

How to install .deb .tar.gz .tra.bz2?

#1 Post by joel »

OK, I know everyone will want to kill me for asking, but I love puppy linux but my one huge annoyance is installing programs off the net. Linux is soo much better than Windows, except intalling program. In which case I have to say it is absolutely terrible. I have searched all over the wikis, manuals, and forums, but is there a simple way to install these files? I have tried tgz2pet, but after it turns into a pet it give a pink error mesdsage, and this is the case with most of them. As for the .deb files I installed debinstaller but it never works either. Am i just screwed with puppy in regards to any non.pet or non.pup files? .bin file are very simple ( i dont understand why more aren;t used). Please help a frustrated noob not reurn to windows. I just want to play games i find, or nice programs for linux but I download a tar.gz and struggle forever to convert to pet, dont know how to manualy do it. Can some one write a simple, everyday english step by step? Or know a link for a recent (4.12 puppy) manual on puppy. all the others are for older versions and menus are different

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puppyluvr
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#2 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hello,
Most tar.gz files are source and must be compiled..
The pink warning means you dont have enough room in your pupsave to expand the files..you can inlarge it using the "resize Personal Storage File" under utilitys..
RPM`s can be unpacked with unrpm, and it works, but undeb hasnt worked for me either.
Lots of stuff here: http://www.puppylinux.ca..or http://www.puppylinuc.asia
And this is a very usefull tool: http://www.pupweb.org/desktop
It has links to many installable programs...
You can also install some Windows programs using Wine...
Also there is Gslapt, which installs Slackware packages to Puppy..(there are hundreds)
Mostly, if you ask, someone will locate/make you a pet of most anything..
And yes, the Puppy manual cant keep up with Puppy, and is out of date..
I know, as I am one of the maintainers...
Keeping the manual up to speed with Puppy would be a full time job...
Puppy advances very rapidly, much faster than most distros...
But we all benifit...
Good Luck..
Last edited by puppyluvr on Fri 27 Feb 2009, 03:22, edited 1 time in total.
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dinky
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#3 Post by dinky »

Do here for a great linux intro:
http://www.tuxfiles.org

Most linux distros have large repos, and a package management system to install from them. Puppy is far behind in this respect, but catching up rapidly. Basically, if you want a program, the easiest way is to search the forums for it. And forget about the forum search tool, it's next to useless. Use this site instead:

http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html

If you're interested in installing other programs not in the forums, you have a few options:
1. go to the first link and learn a bit about compiling. I'd suggest reading the whole site actually, it's truly awesome.
2. Search these forums for more info about installing .deb and .rpm packages. They may work, or they may not.
3. Install another linux distro on your computer, such as Ubuntu, which has very very easy paskage management, and several thousand packages (anything you want really) to choose from. It will be slower than puppy, and much harder to do things on the command line, but very easy to install and uninstal packages.

For more pet package support, here are a couple guidlines:

The pet package repository (petget manager) really sucks for the small amount of packages available. That said, if it is there, you can generally install it and it will work. If it's not, search these forums, you will generally find what you are looking for, and support. If you don't, post asking someone to make it for you. These forums are very friendly, and likely someone will help.

The other thing you could do is install tombh's 'Petch'. Great program, if you type in the command line:

Code: Select all

petch packagename
it will find it for you. Good luck, and welcome to the kennels!

~dinky

DMcCunney
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Re: Installing .deb .tar.gz .tra.bz2

#4 Post by DMcCunney »

joel wrote:OK, I know everyone will want to kill me for asking, but I love puppy linux but my one huge annoyance is installing programs off the net. Linux is soo much better than Windows, except intalling program. In which case I have to say it is absolutely terrible. I have searched all over the wikis, manuals, and forums, but is there a simple way to install these files?
Whether you can install a .tgz file depends upon what it is.

A tgz file is a gzipped tar archive. Unlike Windows archivers like Winzip, Unix/Linux systems consider archiving and compression two separate functions. A tar file is a Tape ARchive file. As the name implies, it was originally meant for storing files on tape. A tar archive is a set of files concatenated into one big file, along with data about the files and where they came from in the file system. Tar archives are then often compressed with something like gzip to save space. To unpack them, you must first gunzip the file, then use the tar program to extract the contents of the archive. This means you need at least twice as much space as the unpacked archive will occupy, because you must first uncompress it, and then extract the contents.

Some tgx files contain actual programs and supporting files, and others contain source code to be used in building the programs on your own system. The latter aren't useful unless you have the development tools installed and can compile them. You need to look at the descriptions of the archives on line and grab the right ones.

Tgz archives with binary files can be installed. The archive will contain files organized in directories, like /usr/bin for the actual program files, and /usr/lib for the library files they need. It's possible to install the programs by simply untarring them at the right starting location. If the program in the archive is in ./usr/bin, for instance, you can tell tar (or other archive program that can unpack tgz files) to extract the files relative to the root directory, so programs wind up in /usr bin and so forth, because the archiver will extract the files relative to the directory you are in.

It's also possible to extract the archive starting somewhere else. I've put stuff in /root/my-applications on Puppy, creating sub-directories like /root/my-applications/usr/bin in the [process, and then created symbolic links from the location where the extract put them to the locations in the file system where they are expected to be and where Puppy would see them. (A symbolic link is a bit like a windows shortcut - it's a pointer to the actual progam, placed in one of the standard directories where Puppy looks for executables.)

This works, but the disadvantage is that the process doesn't do things like automatically update the menus, or put in the information that will allow the Puppy package manager to automatically remove them if you decide you don't want them.

Most folks are better off looking for an actual Puppy .PET file, which can be installed with the standard Puppy package manager. A large number exist, and folks here tend to be good about filling requests if there doesn't happen to be a PET file for that particular program already.

Tell us what stuff you are looking for, and someone can probably help.
______
Dennis

Mercedes350se
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#5 Post by Mercedes350se »

The following is an excerpt regarding .tar.gz files from a little Linux book I have:

Unzip and extract the archive

# tar -zxvf program.tar.gz

This will usually create a directory with all the required files in it.

Change to the newly created directory

# cd program

At this point look for and read any README or INSTALL file. Follow any instructions contained in these.

If these files do not exist then compile and install the software.

While still in the new directory

# ./configure

# make

# make install

In my very limited experience this will *not* place an entry in the menu *nor* place an icon on the desktop.

I have asked these questions and have received answers from other forum members (thank you). If you do a search using my user name you should find the posts.

DMcCunney
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#6 Post by DMcCunney »

Mercedes350se wrote: If these files do not exist then compile and install the software.

While still in the new directory

# ./configure

# make

# make install
This presumes you have the development tools like the Gnu Compiler suite installed. The configure script examines your system to determine what you have and where things are kept to set up the environment for the build. Make actually does the build, following a recipe in a file called makefile that specifies what needs to be done to build the application, and calls gcc with the appropriate parameters to compile the code. "Make install" puts the compiled code in the appropriate places on your system.

Puppy does not ship with the development tools. (The ISO would be a lot bigger than 99MB if it did.) They aren't needed to just use Puppy and install pre-built packages. There is a development SFS file people can install if they want to build thier own applications for Puppy from source.
In my very limited experience this will *not* place an entry in the menu *nor* place an icon on the desktop.
Correct. That's done by the Puppy package manager. Generic code in a tgz file has no idea what distro it is being installed in or how to diddle the config files to place menu entries and icons. That's your problem.
______
Dennis

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joel
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#7 Post by joel »

Thanks to all. So much help. This is why I love Puppy Linux. Not only is it the smallest, fastest, best functioning OS ever, but when there is a problem everyone helps out. As for the .pets out there Lately puppylinux.com has had issues with the downloads section where it says access denied. Puppylinux.ca, and Asia don't cataloge their pets and its hard to find things if you don't know the file name. Lastly, the "make" option doesn't exist in the puppy I have so its not an option to compile and all that.

I was just looking for games like freeciv, and the major ones out there but couldn't find the pets for a lot of them. Thanx for the offer to compile for me.

PS: I have completely switched all my computers to Puppy, and none have space issues so I have more than enough room to unpack but thanks for the suggestion to increase the space for it.

PPS: Mac Pup E17 is in my option the best Puplet. Enlightenment on Puppy...what's next? A fancy futuristic machine that can cut bread into small slices?

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puppyluvr
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#8 Post by puppyluvr »

:D Hey joel,
To compile, (ie use "make" ect...) you need to install the devx_xxx.sfs for your Puppy, )ie devx_412.sfs for Macpup E-17, )
Yes, I agree that E-17 and Puppy is the coolest..
Im glad to see someone continuing with that combo, as Ive had no time lately...
Prit1 is really into E-17 and will do great things with it and Puppy.....
There are a few other E-17 Pups, in my signature link, based on 4.00 / 2.17..
I have been sort-of the "Enlightenment guy"...
But, seeing Macpup E-17, I`d say its safe to say E-17 is in good hands...
I believe I`ll leave E-17 to its new "Daddy" and concentrate on E-16, my first love...
There is an E-16 Puppy, Buddapup215, at my link if you want to check out E-16..


Anyhow,....Question..Is yours a full install, or a frugal??
I ask because of the space issue...With a frugal install, )ie..a pupsave and grub) even if you have 10 gb free on the partition, your pupsave can still fill up...

As for programs, you`ll adapt...
I think the problem is : all the good, easy to grasp names....are someones property..
Hence in Linux / Solaris / BSD ect.. they are sometimes a bit odd and hard to figure out..
As for freeciv, I`m D/L the source now.. :D ...We`ll see how she compiles..I found Slackware packages for it, but only to Slack9....Puppy is Slack12 compatable....so IDK if they would work or not...(Bit of a newb myself.. :P )
So I`ll assume your running Macpup, and will test freeciv on it when I compile it and let you know...Bear in mind that, I`ve found, that if you want to run games on an Enlightenment Puppy, some run better in jwm....( But then, some run WAY better in Enlightenment, so I guess its just trial and error, oops, I mean "research and development"..LOL)
...Jay...

@Edit: Compiled freeciv, and installed it........It wont let you run it as root!! :(
I`ll check it out tomorrow as is late here and 5 am, well you know... :evil:
Close the Windows, and open your eyes, to a whole new world
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