Memory Matrix

Many distributions do not provide a source ISO to match their installation media. Debian provides one, as does Oracle. As far as I know, those are the only two that do that. Since the GPL requires one to redistribute the source code with the program, one needs to possess a copy of that source code if they want to redistribute code later on. This matters because internet archives may vanish as projects change. Old distributions may no longer have source code available online. As projects place everything on GIT servers rather than offering easily mirrored source archives, it becomes less likely that folks will mirror that source over time. To that end, here is how to create a source set to mirror the installation media for a .deb based distribution.

Mount the installation media. Create a directory to contain the source files and cd into that directory on a terminal. Assuming that the mount point is /media/user/DEVUAN611, run the following command:
find "/media/user/DEVUAN611"/ -name "*.deb" -type f -exec sh -cvx 'apt-get source $(dpkg-deb -f "$0" Package)' {} \;
This will identify each .deb file on the media and download the corresponding source .deb file. Save the downloaded source as an ISO via Brasero or other tool and you now have a matching source ISO for the installation media in case you want to redistribute that software a decade or more hence.

This is a listing of Debian sources for future reference.  Debian maintains  an archive of older versions on the Distribution Archives website.  It may be necessary at some point in the future to change the bullseye information below so that it points to the distribution archives.

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list

### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###
# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost.
deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main

End of File

/etc/apt/sources.list

                                                
#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 12.4.0 _Bookworm_ - Official amd64 NETINST with firmware 20231210-17:56]/ bookworm main>

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main non-free-firmware
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main non-free-firmware

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main non-free-firmware
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main non-free-firmware

# bookworm-updates, to get updates before a point release is made;
# see https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_updates_and_backports
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main non-free-firmware
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main non-free-firmware

# Debian 12 "bookworm" dropped by Python2.  Adding Debian 11 "bullseye"
# removed bullseye non-free-firmware from each of the below bullseye lines
# due to errors on 7/24/25

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main


# added 7/24/25
# https://fasttrack.debian.net/


deb http://fasttrack.debian.net/debian-fasttrack/ bookworm-fasttrack main contrib
deb http://fasttrack.debian.net/debian-fasttrack/ bookworm-backports-staging main contrib



# This system was installed using small removable media
# (e.g. netinst, live or single CD). The matching "deb cdrom"
# entries were disabled at the end of the installation process.
# For information about how to configure apt package sources,
# see the sources.list(5) manual.

End of File

Minecraft Java edition lost compatibility with Java 17 between 1.20.4 and 1.20.6. Version 1.20.4 works with Java 17, and 1.20.6 no longer works with Java 17.  Several guides appear online for installing downloaded packages of the 64-bit runtime from Oracle or other sources.  Since Debian offers 32-bit server operating systems in the present day, the package manager versions are the easiest option if one uses the 32-bit version of Debian.  One of the reasons to use the 32-bit version of Debian is for use with older versions of Minecraft such as 1.10 and 1.12.  The older versions’ ecosystem contain an incredible number of mods.  The older versions require 32-bit java runtimes and the easiest way to handle that is to use a 32-bit operating system and then one can have newer versions of Java alongside older versions of Java and then one can run any version of Minecraft and Minecraft Forge that they desire.

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to contain the following lines:

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian testing main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian testing main

Then, run the following commands.

apt-get update
apt-get install openjdk-21-jre

java –version

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting contains a good reference guide for using Debian Testing, including details on upgrading to the next distribution.  The approximate Java lifecycle can be found at https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/java-se-support-roadmap.html.