2.2. Getting a Wine package

2.2.1. Debian Linux

In most cases on a Debian system (or any other distribution that uses packages that use the file name ending .deb, for that matter), you can download and install Wine with a single command, as root:

  # apt-get install wine
  

apt-get will connect to a Debian archive across the Internet (thus, you must be online), then download the Wine package and install it on your system. End of story. You might first need to properly update your package setup, though, by using an editor as root to add an entry to /etc/apt/sources.list to point to an active package server and then running apt-get update.

Once you're done with that step, you may skip the Wine installation chapter, since apt-get has not only downloaded, but also installed the Wine files already. Thus you can now go directly to the Configuration section.

However, if you don't want to or cannot use the automatic download method for .deb packages that apt-get provides, then please read on.

Of course, Debian's pre-packaged version of Wine may not be the most recent release. If you are running the stable version of Debian, you may be able to get a slightly newer version of Wine by grabbing the package from the so-called "unstable" Debian distribution, although this may be a little risky, depending on how far the unstable distribution has diverged from the stable one. You can find a list of Wine binary packages for the various Debian releases using the package search engine at www.debian.org.

If you downloaded a separate .deb package file (e.g. a newer Wine release as stated above) that's not part of your distribution and thus cannot be installed via apt-get, you must use dpkg instead. For instructions on how to do this, please proceed to the Installation section.

2.2.2. Red Hat Linux

Red Hat users can use rpmfind.net to track down available Wine RPM binaries. This page contains a list of all rpmfind packages that start with the letter "W", including a few Wine packages.

2.2.3. FreeBSD

In order to use Wine you need to build and install a new kernel with options USER_LDT, SYSVSHM, SYSVSEM, and SYSVMSG.

If you want to install Wine using the FreeBSD port system, run in a terminal:

  $ su -
  # cd /usr/port/emulators/
  # make
  # make install
  # make clean
  

This process will get wine source from the Internet, then download the Wine package and install it on your system.

If you want to install Wine from the FreeBSD CD-ROM, run in a terminal:

$ su -
# mount /cdrom
# cd /cdrom/packages/All
# pkg_add wine_.X.X.X.tgz

These FreeBSD install instructions completely install the Wine files on your system; you may then proceed to the Configuration section.

2.2.4. Other systems

The first place you should look if your system isn't specifically mentioned above is the WineHQ Download Page. This page lists many assorted archives of binary (precompiled) Wine files.

You could also try to use Google to track down miscellaneous distribution packages.

Note: If you are running a Mandrake system, please see the page on how to get Wine for a Red Hat system, as Mandrake is based on Red Hat.