Debian Squeeze - Backports

v 0.2

27 Oct 11

I've known about the "backports" for Debian Stable for some time, but never quite got into using them.  It always seemed too hard to implement and the instructions were just that little too vague.  When the backports were incoropated into a Debian service, a package search engine was implemented, which I found irritating because I couldn't browse the available packages, and the search engine didn't work in any case.

All this has changed for me - I've finally worked out a system that works for me.  The technique needed for Squeeze to incorporate backports is now simpler than Lenny - and it just works.

My first use of backports was when I started to incorporate the current Iceweasel release in my Debian installs.  If you look at the instructions contained in the http://mozilla.debian.net web-page, you will see that there are two repositories that are activated - backports to provide the XULrunner package and the Debian Mozilla repository.  In that installation, only the "main" section is activated, however you can also activate "contrib" and "non-free".

Debian Backports:   http://backports-master.debian.org/

To include all the backports for Squeeze, add this line to your sources.list file:

deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main 

(add  

contrib non-free

as well if you like ) 

If you want to browse the available packages, then here they are - have a look through and see what takes your fancy:

http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports/pool/

Once you have decided what you want, then go to the search engine and enter the base part of the package name to verify what package you should include in the update .. for example if you search on "linux-image" you will get several kernel packages that may suit you - choose the appropriate one (in this case I chose  " linux-image-2.6-686 "  which is a generic package that at the moment uses the 2.6.39 kernel.  Apt-get (as below) from a root terminal and ....

apt-get -t squeeze-backports install linux-image-2.6-686

Done ..

Far simpler than I'd thought.

Later.