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Table of Contents
sources.list
For people using Debian—especially new users—it can be confusing to have the proper and correct entries in the /etc/apt/sources.list.
You should—of course—use a Debian mirror that is not too far away from you. The examples below contain the generic mirrors where you have to replace “XX” by your language/country code. Furthermore, replace CODENAME by the version you are running, you can find all available codenames on the Debian website.
I also used to have the entries for Marillat packages by default but decided to remove them. They become less and less relevant (for me) and change too much in the base system which makes it difficult to impossible to remove them again. If you still wish to use those, feel free to use them of course. For instructions see the Deb Multimedia website.
Because users usually do not do development, I left out the deb-src entries. If you need the sources, just duplicate all entries and replace the starting deb with deb-src in the duplicates.
Bookworm and newer
- sources.list
### /etc/apt/sources.list # Make sure to replace XX with your local mirror language/country code # Make sure to replace CODENAME with the release codename you are running ### Main Sources deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME main contrib non-free non-free-firmware ### Security Updates deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security CODENAME-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware ### Software Updates deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-proposed-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
Bullseye and older
- sources.list
### /etc/apt/sources.list # Make sure to replace XX with your local mirror language/country code # Make sure to replace CODENAME with the release codename you are running ### Main Sources deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME main contrib non-free ### Security Updates deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security CODENAME-security main contrib non-free ### Software Updates deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-updates main contrib non-free deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-backports main contrib non-free deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-proposed-updates main contrib non-free
Servers
Although my page is aimed at desktop usage, please don't use the above sources.list on a server. There it should look something like this.
Bookworm and newer
<file bash sources.list> ### /etc/apt/sources.list # Make sure to replace XX with your local mirror language/country code # Make sure to replace CODENAME with the release codename you are running
### Main Sources deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME main non-free-firmware
### Security Updates deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security CODENAME-security main non-free-firmware
### Software Updates deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-updates main non-free-firmware </code>
Bullseye and older
Because many servers need the firmware for hardware to function properly, I added the non-free by default here. If you are running Debian virtualized, the non-free can be remowed.
<file bash sources.list> ### /etc/apt/sources.list # Make sure to replace XX with your local mirror language/country code # Make sure to replace CODENAME with the release codename you are running
### Main Sources deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME main non-free
### Security Updates deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security CODENAME-security main non-free
### Software Updates deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME-updates main non-free </code>
LTS
Sometimes, especially on servers, it can happen that you need to run an older version of Debian to ensure stable production. In those cases you can use the LTS repositories. LTS is available only for the i386, amd64 and several arm architectures.
For current available LTS versions, please check the Debian Releases, a fitting sources.list should look like this:
<file bash sources.list> ### /etc/apt/sources.list # For LTS Releases # Make sure to replace CODENAME with the release codename you are running
### Main Sources deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ CODENAME main non-free
### Security Updates deb http://security.debian.org/ CODENAME/updates main non-free </code>