HackNBlog @ Salamanteri Server

I found out just now that Debian, along with couple other major distributions, have decided to drop support for XMMS audio player (See: Considerations for ‘xmms’ removal from Debian). I was really badly surprised when I noticed that apparently dist-upgrading my Debian from Etch to Lenny, the new stable, the old XMMS package had disapeared! I can live with Debian dropping XMMS but I think that it’s a bit shameless to put an upgrade out that drops the already installed package from my system too! So I had to get it back…

Personally I use it because it’s very light, provides an UI that I feel comfortable with (no matter what some say). Also when I place the playlist under the main window so that playlist can have all the rest vertical space to show songs and place them in right edge of my right monitor it takes very little desktop space away from other programs.

Apparently I am not the only one who still prefers to use the old XMMS even if it’s outdated and people look at you funny for not using something like Amarok instead… There are already HOWTOs for building XMMS from source or installing an older package, eg. How-To: Compile and Install XMMS in Debian Lenny.

It seems quite a few seem to be requesting the good old X MultiMedia System after it disappeared from Debian and Ubuntu. A few people have provided HOWTOs for building XMMS from source or installing an older package, but I find this method a bit cumbersome to do on all my systems. So I’ve created this little repository. – Knut Auvor Grythes

I was about to take that road too and compile it from sources. Luckily I decided to try the old homepage of XMMS, xmms.org, and just when I was about to download the source I noticed a link to Debian/Ubuntu packages at the bottom of the page. I took a look and found that the admin had created package repository for Debian Lenny, Ubuntu Hardy & Ubuntu Intrepid (for 32- & 64-bit x86, others will still need another solution) along with simple instructions for installing. I have placed, so that you dont have to browse there, the two very simple steps it takes right below:

1. To access Knut Auvor Grythes repository add relevant lines (accordingly to your distribution) to /etc/apt/sources.list: Debian Lenny 32- and 64-bit x86 deb http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knuta/xmms/lenny ./ deb-src http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knuta/xmms/lenny ./ Ubuntu Hardy 32- and 64-bit x86 deb http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knuta/xmms/hardy ./ deb-src http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knuta/xmms/hardy ./ Ubuntu Intrepid 32- and 64-bit x86 deb http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knuta/xmms/intrepid ./ deb-src http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~knuta/xmms/intrepid ./
2. Run apt-get update to update package index database and then apt-get install xmms to complete installation.

If your system / architecture has dropped XMMS, was not mentioned here and you happen to know where/how XMMS can be obtained for it without compiling from source please drop me a comment and I will post that data on this blog too :)

Finally for everyone who found this article useful: happy listening!

Tags: debian, guide, howto, Linux/Unix, Linux/Unix Software, Open Source, ubuntu

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 7:13 am and is filed under Linux/Unix Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.