Setting static route in Debian-Linux

Simple network routes can be set under Linux using the route command become. Here is a simple example:

route add -net 192.168.20.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.0.1

In order for this change to be active even after a restart, the file /etc/network/interfaces must be changed.

iface ens192 inet static
address 192.168.0.156/24
up /bin/ip route add 10.25.20.0/24 via 192.168.0.1

apt-file – Find programs inside APT/Debian-repositories

Recently I noticed on a freshly installed server that there was no command called nslookup. Luckily, Debian-like distributions have the apt-file tool.

This makes it possible to search for applications that are not yet installed but are in principle available in the APT repository. The command

apt-file search nslookup

quickly shed light on the matter and delivered the following output:

bash-completion: /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/nslookup
bind9-doc: /usr/share/doc/bind9-doc/arm/man.nslookup.html
dnsutils: /usr/bin/nslookup
dnsutils: /usr/share/man/man1/nslookup.1.gz
exim4-doc-html: /usr/share/doc/exim4-doc-html/spec_html/ch-the_dnslookup_router.html
fpc-source-3.0.4: /usr/share/fpcsrc/3.0.4/packages/fcl-net/examples/cnslookup.pp
libnet-nslookup-perl: /usr/share/doc/libnet-nslookup-perl/changelog.Debian.gz
libnet-nslookup-perl: /usr/share/doc/libnet-nslookup-perl/copyright
libnet-nslookup-perl: /usr/share/lintian/overrides/libnet-nslookup-perl
libxpa-dev: /usr/share/man/man3/xpanslookup.3.gz

So it was clear that the dnsutils package had to be installed
afterwards. Calling

apt-get install dnsutils

was enough and the nslookup tool was already available on my server.

If apt-file itself is not yet installed, it can be installed beforehand using

apt-get install apt-file

It is important that the cache is set up immediately afterwards. This is done using

apt-file update

Install Steam on Debian without using an installer

Firstly, during the Steam setup, I’m acting as the user tester. Any other user can be used instead of tester, but in that case, all path references in this documentation must be adjusted accordingly.

First, download the official Steam installer from their website. This will place the file steam.deb in the downloads folder.

If you unpack this Debian package, you’ll find the necessary files under the directory =/CONTENTS= (unpacking with Midnight Commander is very simple: select steam.deb and press Enter). The files you should see are:

  • /usr/bin/steam
  • /usr/bin/steamdeps
  • /usr/lib/steam/bootstraplinux_ubuntu12_32.tar.xz

The last file can be named differently under certain circumstances. Below /usr/lib/steam (within steam.deb!) There should be only one file.

All three files are now e.g. copied to /home/tester/steam/bin (This directory must be created beforehand!) Then the following steps are carried out as user root:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri:i386
sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx:i386

Now change to the directory /home/tester/steam/bin and call the file steam:

cd /home/tester/steam/bin
./steam

If packages are still missing, they are now displayed in a separate window (missing packages are installed as above, the package names displayed by Steam can be adopted 1: 1) Otherwise, the execution of the Steam application begins, which usually starts with the Update of own binaries begins. Ultimately, the usual Steam window appears where games can be started and installed.

Addendum: The way described above does not create any desktop icons and otherwise Steam is NOT integrated into the existing desktop environment via GUI but has to be started manually as stated above.