Can I use Debian DVD's to install on Ubuntu

[Robert Persson]

debian wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-01-21 at 14:12 +1030, squareyes wrote:
>   
>> Hi all,
>> I have a 3 DVD set of Debian 4 "Etch", and was wondering if I can use 
>> them to
>> install applications like Scribus, Inkscape etc. on Ubuntu 7.04 ?
>>
>> I have friends who have Ubuntu running on machines with no Internet access,
>> and thought if I could add the DVD's to their (mine too, have slow dial up)
>> apt.sources list and use them as repositories. Would save them bringing 
>> their boxes here
>> and installing via my slow dialup.
>>
>> Are there any problems that may rear their ugly heads.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance.
>> Take Care
>> Winton
>>
>>     
>
> i wouldnt recommend it. its usually best to install from ubuntus
> repositories. 
>
> The last time i did something like that, i ended up installing some of
> debians libraries over ubuntu's libraries and some of the programs that
> required those libraries no longer worked. I couldve removed and
> reinstalled the proper libraries, but for the life of me, i couldnt
> remember what the names of them were. so therefore i dont recommend it.
>   
Yes, the risk is that you will end up bringing in different versions of
particular libraries as dependencies and seriously mess your system.
However I would not say that you should never use packages compiled for
another system. For instance an application that is statically compiled
(i.e. one that is not dependent on external libraries) will probably
work fine. Many commercial applications fall into this category.

There is also a good chance that many other applications will work. I
wouldn't be surprised if  Scribus etc. fall into this category. However,
unless the repository they come from is a very small one (i.e. a
specialist 3rd party repository), you should install those applications
individually using dpkg or gdebi. If you add another major repository to
your apt sources you will almost certainly regret it.

It is also possible in many cases to add packages built for rpm-based
distributions by converting to debs using alien. This can sometimes pose
additional problems because other distributions may put things different
places or give libraries different names. These problems can often be
fixed by a bit of tinkering. Occasionally the version numbering schemes
can conflict; this is much harder to deal with, but it can be done. You
can sometimes get away with installing the other distribution's
differently named libraries if you are careful about it. The way I go
about this is that I first convert the library rpm to a deb and then I
browse the contents of the deb in midnight commander to make sure that
there are no library names that conflict with any already on my system.
I end up using alien fairly frequently to install things like commercial
apps or obscure audio apps for which no debs are available.