1

One thing I really dislike about Linux is the completelly obscure system of installing programs. It's really comfortable for normal user with access to internet, but not to me.

Whenever I want to install application on debian, I just find the package name on the internet and enter it in the shell.

My raspberry is connected to my PC directly with crossover cable. The one thing I really dislike about Windows is their obscure networking. It appears impossible to share my network connection to Raspberry. When I try to do so, all network configurations are reset.

This is why I was wondering, if I could download all the packages using some program on windows and then copy it to raspberry. Currently, I copy files to Raspberry using wget through which I access my local http server.

Is there a program to get a package and all the dependencies? Is there a program to install them on raspberry?

Improve this question
10
  • please, connect RPi to the network and install the packages the traditional way. trying to download them to windows will not bring you any happiness.
    – lenik
    Jun 20, 2014 at 1:37
  • I can't. The network has mac address whitelist. And yes, it's horrible doing it that way. Sometimes I really wish for the internet to go down for a few days so that people start making applications that don't need it again.
    – Tomáš Zato
    Jun 20, 2014 at 1:42
  • bring it somewhere else, like home or to your friend's place, install the packages and bring it back.
    – lenik
    Jun 20, 2014 at 1:44
  • This might take a week to happen. But your suggestions depict how desperate the situation is.
    – Tomáš Zato
    Jun 20, 2014 at 1:46
  • please, don't worry, we can wait. it's 2014 out there, and a computer without an internet connection is an anachronism.
    – lenik
    Jun 20, 2014 at 1:52

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

Installers work using packages on many Linux systems - Debian (Raspbian) uses .deb packages. So you can download the packages you need to install on your Pi, transfer them to the Pi and install them.

For instance, instead of running sudo apt-get install iceweasel (to install the Debian version of Firefox), you can:

  • First, go to to https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages and use the search tool to find the package you need (e.g. iceweasel) - there is also a full (and very large) listing of the packages here.

  • You can then download the .deb package - you will need to download the arm package linked at the bottom of the page (using the armhf packages should work, armel might). Packages for other architectures won't work.

  • Once on the Pi, you can install the package(s) by running

    sudo dpkg -i /path/to/file/.deb /path/to/other/file.deb

  • If you end up with dependency problems (extra packages are needed package you are installing to work), you should be able download those off of the Debian packages site as well. These dependency packages are listed on the package's page - e.g. for iceweasel, it says you need xulrunner

Edit: just remembered another way would be to get apt on the Pi to give you the URLs of the files it needs instead of attempting to download the packages - so you would run the apt install command, but with --print-uris added in:

sudo apt-get --print-uris install PROGRAM

You can download the files from the URLs it gives on the Windows machine. The advantage of this is that it only prompts for the download of things it needs, and does required guessing as in my above answer.

I did an answer on this a while back here - it has some sample output and stuff.

Improve this answer
2
  • By any chance, isn't there a script that that does make you a zip of all dependencies?
    – Tomáš Zato
    Jun 20, 2014 at 17:09
  • 1
    see the edit - surprised i forgot about this
    – Wilf
    Jun 20, 2014 at 20:18
0

You really should fix your Internet Connection Sharing on your Windows computer. Once that's working, then you'll fall in love with your Raspberry Pi again ;-)

In the mean time, you could investigate the apt-offline package (assuming you're using a Debian based Pi distro). It allows you to download packages to an USB stick for installing on an offline linux computer. As it's a Python based application, then it works in Windows too.

Instructions for use are available here. Although they are Linux based, you should be able to adapt them to work on Windows.

Improve this answer
3
  • In fact, the problem resides in the Pi being unable to accept to shared connection for some reason. I had problems using apt-offline on windows (though I thought python is platform independent).
    – Tomáš Zato
    Jun 20, 2014 at 16:07
  • I've added an answer to your apt-offline on Windows question. What distro are you using on your Pi?
    – garethTheRed
    Jun 20, 2014 at 17:55
  • Wheezy raspbian (the most default thing for pi there is).
    – Tomáš Zato
    Jun 20, 2014 at 21:37

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.