APT sources.list One-Line Format versus DEB822-Style Format

Development
1

ONE-LINE-STYLE FORMAT

deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/derivative.asc] https://deb.kicksecure.com bookworm main contrib non-free

shell command:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/derivative.asc] https://deb.kicksecure.com bookworm main contrib non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/derivative.list

DEB822-STYLE FORMAT

Uris: https://deb.kicksecure.com
Types: deb deb-src
Suites: bullseye
Components: main contrib non-free
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/derivative.asc

shell command:

echo "\
Uris: https://deb.kicksecure.com
Types: deb deb-src
Suites: bookworm
Components: main contrib non-free
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/derivative.asc
" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/derivative.list

DEB822 format is

  • supported since Debian bookworm,
  • used by extrepo,
  • supported by mmdebstrap.

In my opinion, the resulting configuration files /etc/apt/sources.list.d look nicer in DEB822 format. Seems easier to modify.

However, in manual repository adding instructions, one-line style format seems easier for copy and paste.

2

Probably best to avoid implementing this until Debian moves to DEB822 format by default, if that ever happens. There’s no rush in doing this at all.