How To Install libnettle8 on Debian 11

In this tutorial we learn how to install libnettle8 on Debian 11. libnettle8 is low level cryptographic library (symmetric and one-way cryptos)

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install libnettle8 on Debian 11.

What is libnettle8

libnettle8 is:

Nettle is a cryptographic library that is designed to fit easily in more or less any context: In crypto toolkits for object-oriented languages (C++, Python, Pike, …), in applications like LSH or GNUPG, or even in kernel space.

It tries to solve a problem of providing a common set of cryptographic algorithms for higher-level applications by implementing a context-independent set of cryptographic algorithms. In that light, Nettle doesn’t do any memory allocation or I/O, it simply provides the cryptographic algorithms for the application to use in any environment and in any way it needs.

This package contains the symmetric and one-way cryptographic algorithms. To avoid having this package depend on libgmp, the asymmetric cryptos reside in a separate library, libhogweed.

There are three methods to install libnettle8 on Debian 11. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install libnettle8 Using apt-get

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

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install libnettle8 using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install libnettle8

Install libnettle8 Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install libnettle8 using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install libnettle8

Install libnettle8 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 libnettle8 using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install libnettle8

How To Uninstall libnettle8 on Debian 11

To uninstall only the libnettle8 package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove libnettle8

Uninstall libnettle8 And Its Dependencies

To uninstall libnettle8 and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 11, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove libnettle8

Remove libnettle8 Configurations and Data

To remove libnettle8 configuration and data from Debian 11 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge libnettle8

Remove libnettle8 configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove libnettle8 configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge libnettle8

Dependencies

libnettle8 have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install libnettle8 package on Debian 11 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.