Install from debian 12 experimental in saltstack

User Support
1

I am using SaltStack to create qubes. I am looking to install some packages from debian 12 experimental. Anyone knows how to install from debian experimental in SaltStack?

2

Do you want to know how to set up a repository, how to install packages,
or both?

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.
3

I needed both. But was able to find some answers online.

For anyone interested.

  1. First enable experimental package in sources.list. I did this using Saltstack’s file.managed and pushed a file into /etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental-debian.list. It should be fairly easy to find what should be content of this file.
  2. Packages from the experimental repository can be installed be using a parameter fromrepo: experimental in Saltstack’s pkg.installed task.
4

thanks for sharing. What may be more helpful, to those new to salt or also considering downloading packages from experimental repos, would be the full salt state.

5

Repository

  1. Set up new repo.
    pkgrepo.managed is fully documented
    Create a state file, repo.sls:
install_trixie_sources:
  pkgrepo.managed:
    - humanname: trixie
    - name: deb https://deb.debian.org/debian trixie main
    - file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trixie.list

Apply it with qubesctl --skip-dom0 --targets=TARGET state.apply repo

  1. Alternative method.
    Use file.managed
    Create a file containing the content that you want, e.g. trixie_sources:
deb https://deb.debian.org/debian trixie main

Create a state file, repo_managed.sls:

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/trixie.list:
  file.managed:
    - source: salt://trixie_sources

Apply it with `qubesctl --skip-dom0 --targets=TARGET state.apply repo_managed``

Install Packages

  1. Use the pkg module

Create a state file, install_edbrowse.sls, explicitly stating repo to
use:

install_edbrowse:
  pkg.installed:
    - fromrepo: trixie
    - name: edbrowse
    - refresh: True
  1. Alternatively, make sure you have latest version:
install_latest_edbrowse:
  pkg.latest:
    - name: edbrowse
    - refresh: True

These are simple examples.
As it is salt, you can use pkg.installed with templating to cover
cases where the package name differs between distros, manually push
packages stored in dom0, install from repositories set up on the fly,
and so on.
Those are more complex cases, but are fully documented.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.
1 Like