Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

I'm wondering if it's safe to add Debian/ARM repos to Maemo (N900).

There are a lot of packages I'd like to be able to use (e.g. screen, and a number of X11 apps out there) if I could, but I don't want to trash everything that's there already in Maemo.

Would it be possible to do this? Should I set pin priority for Nokia packages?

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

I've installed a couple of Debian armel packages and worked like a charm :-)

I don't recomend adding the Debian repos because that would mix alot of packages. Just go to http://packages.debian.org , find the package and download it! Then install with dpkg -i package.deb ;)

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Be careful most of packages not optified there....
And they will use most important memory on "/"

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

some packages can be updated, you will get a firmware-update-notification when you remove mp-fremantle-generic-pr. The device will work normally, but some applications can have a strange behavior with updated packages, and some updates will temp. brick your device.

I was able to install (without bricking) via apt-get: Kile, Inkscape, Dia, Audacity, Mousepad, pcmanfm, Blender, Netbeans and dependencies.

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

There is one thing I don't understand:
If I try to install anything from the Debian repo, it wants to remove fremantle-generic-pr.
But why?

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

installing .debs from the debian arm repository directly in maemo is not such a good idea IMO.

better try Easy Debian.
with this chroot environment, you get full and easy access to the Debian ARM repo, with apt-get / synaptic and everything.
since this is inside an image file (which resides on MyDocs), you don't have to worry about optification or package dependencies, because they get resolved automatically.
also, packages like libc and so on are in a current version, not the "older" versions that get shipped with Maemo, and which could cause trouble if you --force the installation of a package.

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Netbeans and dependencies? How did you get Java JDK and netbeans to install? Since they are huge packages, didn't they fill the rootfs? Did you repackage them to be optified? Did you recompile them?

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Okay... but could you tell me why does it want to remove "fremantle-generic-pr"?

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

that's the package for the root filesystem. it has many very specific dependencies, all of them refer to a specific version number (not "at least" a certain version, but "equal to").

the packages in the debian arm repo have been compiled with newer components, so every package from there which needs a certain software product with a higher version number will break the dependencies of the rootfs-package.

put simpler, a debian arm package will depend on some library with a version higher than what Maemo offers. the installer will try to solve that dependency by installing the library with the required number, but because fremantle-generic-mp requires the specific version that is currently installed, the installer cannot update that library without deinstalling fremantle-generic-mp first.

needless to say, deinstalling fremantle-generic-mp is _not_ recommended.

none of that is a problem under Easy Debian btw, because inside that chroot all the libraries are already up-to-date, or can be updated without much hassle.

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Thanks for explaining!
This is very weird. It reminds me of the "DLL hell" we had on Windows 98...

However, now on Windows the different versions of most of the applications and libraries can coexist without any issue. (For exaple, you can have all versions of the .NET Framework installed, even the newest beta, without them disturbing each other.)

Isn't it possible on Linux?

Or otherwise, why don't they update the dependencies of the fremantle-generic-pr, so everyone could be happy?

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

this has nothing to do with linux or the package management system in use (in fact, it is a good thing that you can't just remove system packages).

you have to keep in mind that this is an embedded system, not some stock x86 intel platform. many optimizations for mobile use, concerning battery life and so on, went into the software components of Maemo. these optimizations take time to be reimplemented and tested with newer versions, which is why the major version number of system packages hardly changes at all...


btw, under linux it's much easier to have multiple versions of the same software installed - via chroot (again, let me point you to Easy Debian :) )! i know of no comparable technology for windows systems.

and for the record, the different .NET frameworks aren't as "non-disturbing" as you think :)


the way windows currently manages multiple DLL versions isn't exactly a rosegarden either. just look at the WinSXS folder of a system after a few months... since windows has no idea which dlls could be of use some time in the future, it simply caches all of them, all the time. and don't you dare touch that folder, unless you like the colour blue... :D

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Thanks again for your insightful answers!
I'll try out Easy Debian soon. :)

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Did Audacity work properly? It would be great..

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Would installing CSSU be able to fix the problem?
Cssu uses pr-fremantle-community instead of offended package (and I hope it has better dependencies).
Installing cssu is easy but you need use custom installer provided by package cssu enabler else package manager is going to foolishly remove pr-fremantle-generic at auto which almost sure will brick the device.
...

Re: Adding Debian/ARM repos?
 

Some of those applications also exist in native Maemo versions. Screen is in SDK repo I think and Audacity can be found too.