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WARNING: Complete noob to linux (somewhat noob - if something can be installed w/ a package manager, I'm ok, else completely lost). I loaded debian 7 on a VBox VM (took 2 days to get everything to run correctly, but cool now) and just want to put a BitCoin wallet on, so I went to the bitcoin site and downloaded the wallet. Unfortunately, there is no install package, just a bin and src directory. I figured the bin was the correct place to look and found a directory named "32" under that. In that directory, I see bitcoind and bitcoin-qt. Found out I needed PPA to install this, so I came up with (in a terminal):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bitcoin/bitcoin
ran the command, seemed to work. then ran
sudo apt-get update
but discovered some files apparently are no longer on the site it's pulling stuff from:
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy Release.gpg
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-updates Release.gpg
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy Release
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-updates Release
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy/main Sources
Hit http://security.debian.org wheezy/updates Release.gpg
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy/main i386 Packages
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net wheezy Release.gpg
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy/main Translation-en
Hit http://security.debian.org wheezy/updates Release
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-updates/main Sources
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-updates/main i386 Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://security.debian.org wheezy/updates/main Sources
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org wheezy-updates/main Translation-en/DiffIndex
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net wheezy Release
Hit http://security.debian.org wheezy/updates/main i386 Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org wheezy/updates/main Translation-en
Err http://ppa.launchpad.net wheezy/main Sources
404 Not Found
Err http://ppa.launchpad.net wheezy/main i386 Packages
404 Not Found
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net wheezy/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ppa.launchpad.net wheezy/main Translation-en
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bitcoin/bitcoin/ubuntu/dists/wheezy/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/bitcoin/bitcoin/ubuntu/dists/wheezy/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Naturally, because of errors above, the installation fails.
sudo apt-get install bitcoin-qt
results in:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package bitcoin-qt
Being a noob, I have no clue as to where it is looking for the bitcoin-qt file, so I tried the same command in the directory the file was in that I downloaded it to, same error. I know I'm doing something completely wrong here, but have no idea how to proceed. (sorry, spoiled by win/mac 2-click installations!)
As a side note, take into account that the building of the bitcoin source code in debian 7 is currently broken. – 174140 – 2014-01-09T16:34:11.687
ok - Should I just blow away the Debian and go to Ubuntu? It's a VirtualBox VM, so it's not a big deal. – MC9000 – 2014-01-09T16:42:42.730
Maybe you are running a Microsoft host and would be just OK running the wallet from the host. Maybe more trust should be put in Debian rather than in bitcoin. Who knows? – 174140 – 2014-01-09T16:50:49.943
Anyway bitcoin builds in Ubuntu far better than in Debian, by a surprisingly large distance. But this is just for today. – 174140 – 2014-01-09T16:54:11.940
@uprego - There are very specific security reasons having your wallet within a linux virtual machine is a valid decision. That really isn't a valid solution, if building is currently broken, and there simply not being a solution on debian ( except to fix the build process yourself ) is an entirely valid answer to this question. Using Windows instead not so much. – Ramhound – 2014-01-09T16:57:29.030
100% roger that, but am not really sure of the availability of a precompiled package, just know about the source build, hence commenting instead of answering. I saw it [bitcoin] listed once upon a time in a wheezy installation's
aptitude
, but when using bitcoin from GNU/Linux I would recommend sticking heavily to the source code, as a personal opinion. – 174140 – 2014-01-09T17:04:13.373Basically, I ultimately want a bootable thumb drive w/Linux on it (right now, I'm just putting on a VM on an encrypted partition to make sure it works). – MC9000 – 2014-01-09T19:56:28.760
If you have no other software constraints, giving the current difference of available support for one or another platform, your pragmatic solution is going Ubuntu. But considering the frequency of protocol changes and forced upgrades over four years, and the actual maintenance of Ubuntu and Debian package repositories, I don't think it is a good idea to rely the deb packaging system for having this software up to date. – 174140 – 2014-01-10T07:20:58.620
Ok - Ubuntu is ridiculously slow in VirtualBox, it's completely unusable. Is Mint ready for prime time? I want a GUI, but a fast one - Debian's was lightning fast, but since BitCoin-qt is incompatible, I need something else. – MC9000 – 2014-01-11T08:09:09.263