How to Install Dropbear on Debian 12

Dropbear, also known as Dropbear Secure Shell (SSH) server is a small open-source SSH server and client that is mostly used in embedded systems and wireless routers. It is popular for its “Low Processor Resource Consumption” and its “Low Memory Usage”. In this article, we will cover the different installation processes of Dropbear on Debian 12.

How to Install Dropbear on Debian 12?

There are three different methods to install Dropbear on Debian 12:

“apt-get” method.
“apt” method.
“aptitude” method.

Method 1: Use “apt-get” to Install Dropbear on Debian 12

“apt-get” is considered to be the user’s back-end to other tools in the library. Before installing Dropbear, updating the “apt database” is crucial for the installation process. Use the following command in the Linux Terminal to update the apt database:

sudo apt-get update

It will ask for the current user password, Enter the password:

After updating the database, run the following command to install Dropbear:

sudo apt-get -y install dropbear

Method 2: Use the “apt” Method to Install Dropbear on Debian 12

“apt” is the Advanced Package Tool for handling the installation and removal of packages on Linux Distributions. Dropbear can also be installed on Debian 12 by using the “apt” command. Add the following command in the Linux terminal:

sudo apt update

Now install the Dropbear by running the following command on the Linux Terminal:

sudo apt -y install dropbear

It will start the installation process or will show you the result if it was previously installed:

Method 3: Use “aptitude” to Install Dropbear on Debian 12

“aptitude” enables us to perform package management tasks that give more control to the user by providing a user interface through which packages can be installed and removed. Aptitude is not Installed in Linux Distributions by default. To install and use it, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install aptitude

This will start the installation process and ask for permission to take some disk space, press “Y” to proceed with the installation process:

Run the following command now in the Linux terminal:

sudo aptitude update

This will update the “apt” database:

The apt database is updated and now use the following command to install Dropbear:

sudo aptitude -y install dropbear

If Dropbear is already installed it won’t reinstall, instead it will inform the user about the packages already being installed. Otherwise, the command will install all the necessary Dropbear packages:

How to Uninstall Dropbear From Debian 12?

To uninstall Dropbear configuration, complete data and the dependencies, use the following command in the Linux Terminal:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge dropbear

This will make sure the Linux system is cleaned with all packages, files, and dependencies of Dropbear:

Conclusion

To install Dropbear on Debian 12, use one of the three methods: the “apt” package manager, the “apt-get” package manager, or the “aptitude” package manager. Additionally, we have also covered how we can remove all the files, packages, and dependencies of Dropbear once it is no longer required.