r/linuxquestions • u/Specialist-Dog-501 • 3d ago

How to maintain 3rd apps from github on a debian ?

I am on mint 22.3 and wonder how I can keep overview of installed apps directly coming from github.
- I know first choice should be the distro repo.
- Then there's as example "Extra Repo" for the debian world containing more apps.
- I also tried to use homebrew, but was to stupid to understand the slang
- there's the option to add other repos to the standard package manager..does that also work with githubs ?
- Or Is there any other way to bundle github installed apps and keep them updated in an efficient way, may be with an dedicated container or package manager on a debian distro ? I have may be an dozen apps like that, not a high number, and typically not the most critical ones.

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u/revcraigevil 3d ago

Take a look at deb-get and topgrade.

deb-get: apt-get for .debs published via GitHub or direct download

https://github.com/topgrade-rs/topgrade

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u/Specialist-Dog-501 3d ago

Hmm..Oi! Deb-get just had overwritten the marked/protected WINE9.21 that I had tried to prevent from any updates and I have a ton of VST on that one..also the "LIST" Command is confusing..showing me what is on its own repo, not installed on my PC..I guess that's another command, even if not shown clearly in the help ? I see some config file with some of my local deb files, but actually not WINE9.21 but it had still overwritten it.. this tool is either free of any logic, or I have suched a messed up installation that it cannot work properly-probably the later..I had marked WINE9.21 with apt-mark hold to prevent it from upgrading, but this seems not to stop deb-get..does deb-get act like an umbrella ontop of apt ?
Glad I could at least downgrade WINE again to my working version..hm -may be it will work better on a new machine, where's there not so much historical grown stuff hanging around.

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u/Specialist-Dog-501 2d ago

Anway- I guess I have already a "borked" system. Thanks for the hint, deb-get is on the right track, just not as straight forward as hoped-I probably need to test it on a clean VM right from the begin to understand it fully, and keep it away from my borked system for now.

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u/c2btw 3d ago

https://flathub.org/en and app images

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u/Specialist-Dog-501 3d ago

Yes, it sounds like that's the best I can get- but if the dev offers no flatpak on his github, can I package his app myself into a flatpak without too much knowledge about the details of this app ?

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u/c2btw 3d ago

yes

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u/Specialist-Dog-501 3d ago

okay, I may try that once! Thank you.

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u/fearless-fossa 3d ago

Mend's Renovate should be able to do that.

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u/Specialist-Dog-501 3d ago

Thanks for this idea! It looks..like I setup PRs in a github..to trigger an update in my local instance, something like that? or have my own github to do so ? Not really familiar with github's details..

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u/fearless-fossa 3d ago

That's the common way of using it, but you can also just use an ephemeral docker container that gives you console output about available updates. At least I remember something in that venue when I first tried my hand at it before setting up automated workflows.

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u/Excellent-Love-6943 3d ago

By not installing them.

https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

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u/victormas208 3d ago

This information is invaluable; I just started using Debian on a laptop and had no idea why it kept breaking. Thanks for the info.

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u/Excellent-Love-6943 3d ago

Don't thank me, thank the Debian maintainers and the wiki contributors for making a great product.

They take a good distro and make it fantastic.

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u/Specialist-Dog-501 3d ago

That was also a good learning- this checkinstall goes in the direction I hoped for. An isolated container..it would just need an alarm bell when the related github updates. Then I am probably closeby flatpaks and appimages.

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u/skyfishgoo 3d ago

installing random code from outside the official repositories is great way to bork your system.

best to do this kind of experimentation in a VM you can easily rebuild when when it breaks.

but to answer your question, you keep a list of the random things you have installed and then work thru that list by hand to see if any of your versions have been updated... if so you reinstall them all over again.

too much work if you ask me.

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u/C0rn3j 3d ago edited 3d ago

You don't, you use the package manager.

Packaging for dpkg is insanity though, so good luck, why not use a distribution that is modern and has software available in the first place without having to package it yourself?

Check out Arch Linux (with Plasma) or Fedora KDE.