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How can I enable non-free packages on Debian? I want to install Sun's Java JDK but it's not available to me.

3 Answers 3

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Open up /etc/apt/sources.list, and you should see lines like the following (URLs will likely vary):

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib

Simply add non-free to the respective URLs you wish to use, i.e.:

 deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free

Running apt-get update will update your local repo with the package listing.

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31

You can also restrict this a little bit if you only want some very specific packages from non-free (firmwares for your hardware for example).

To do so, keep your /etc/apt/sources.list as described by @Andrew M. Then, use Apt Pinning to disable by default all non-free packages for your current release:

Create a file named /etc/apt/preferences.d/non-free_policy containing the following directives:

Explanation: Disable packages from non-free tree by default
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable,l=Debian,c=non-free
Pin-Priority: -1

Now, create another file for the specific package you want to get from non-free.
Let's assume you want to add the Intel drivers for wireless cards for instance (package firmware-iwlwifi).
Create a file name /etc/apt/preferences.d/firmware-iwlwifi_nonfree with these lines:

Explanation: Enable package firmware-iwlwifi from non-free tree
Package: firmware-iwlwifi
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable,l=Debian,c=non-free
Pin-Priority: 600

This configuration avoids bloating your package with these annoying non-free packages ;)

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19

An alternative way to update the package sources configuration file is to use the apt-add-repository command (from the software-properties-common package). If you want non-free package for all sources, run:

sudo apt-add-repository --component non-free
sudo apt-get update

Answer inspired by: https://askubuntu.com/a/553847/67211

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  • 1
    This gives me an error of apt-add-repository: not found Sep 27, 2019 at 10:34
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    @ChrisStryczynski, install the optional package software-properties-common to get that tool.
    – Lucas
    Sep 30, 2019 at 10:01
  • DO NOT DO THIS on Linux Mint (perhaps Ubuntu). After rebooting, my cinnamon desktop went missing (in the login screen, there was no option for the Cinnamon desktop) until I did sudo apt-add-repository non-free -r; apt update; apt upgrade; reboot. IDK what went wrong or what was going on.
    – Jack G
    Jul 6, 2020 at 19:06
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    As of Debian Bookworm you might need to add non-free-firmware too Oct 1, 2023 at 20:54

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