How To Install xcb-proto on Debian 9

In this tutorial we learn how to install xcb-proto on Debian 9. xcb-proto is X C Binding - protocol descriptions

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install xcb-proto on Debian 9.

What is xcb-proto

xcb-proto is:

xcb-proto contains descriptions of the X Window System core protocol and selected extensions in an XML-based data format. The X C Binding (XCB) library uses these descriptions to generate much of its code. You only need this package if you want to compile XCB or otherwise make use of these protocol descriptions.

The XCB library provides an interface to the X Window System protocol, designed to replace the Xlib interface. XCB provides several advantages over Xlib:

  • Size: small library and lower memory footprint
  • Latency hiding: batch several requests and wait for the replies later
  • Direct protocol access: one-to-one mapping between interface and protocol
  • Thread support: access XCB from multiple threads, with no explicit locking
  • Easy creation of new extensions: automatically generates interface from machine-parsable protocol descriptions

There are three methods to install xcb-proto on Debian 9. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install xcb-proto Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install xcb-proto using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install xcb-proto

Install xcb-proto Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install xcb-proto using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install xcb-proto

Install xcb-proto Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install xcb-proto using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install xcb-proto

How To Uninstall xcb-proto on Debian 9

To uninstall only the xcb-proto package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove xcb-proto

Uninstall xcb-proto And Its Dependencies

To uninstall xcb-proto and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 9, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove xcb-proto

Remove xcb-proto Configurations and Data

To remove xcb-proto configuration and data from Debian 9 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge xcb-proto

Remove xcb-proto configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove xcb-proto configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge xcb-proto

Dependencies

xcb-proto have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install xcb-proto package on Debian 9 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.