How To Install zsh-static on Debian 12

Learn how to install zsh-static on Debian 12 with this tutorial. zsh-static is shell with lots of features (static link)

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install zsh-static on Debian 12.

What is zsh-static

zsh-static is:

Zsh is a UNIX command interpreter (shell) usable as an interactive login shell and as a shell script command processor. Of the standard shells, zsh most closely resembles ksh but includes many enhancements. Zsh has command-line editing, built-in spelling correction, programmable command completion, shell functions (with autoloading), a history mechanism, and a host of other features.

This is the statically-compiled version of the shell, i.e. it doesn’t require any dynamically loaded libraries to be present and will work even if libraries zsh (in general) needs are broken on the system. So it’s more robust in case of a broken system.

It though also has a few limitations compared to the normal, dynamically linked, e.g. it can’t use NSS related functionality which might result in minor imperfections like e.g. user names being shown in the prompt.

There are three methods to install zsh-static on Debian 12. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install zsh-static Using apt-get

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

sudo apt-get update

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

sudo apt-get -y install zsh-static

Install zsh-static Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

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

sudo apt -y install zsh-static

Install zsh-static 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 zsh-static using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install zsh-static

How To Uninstall zsh-static on Debian 12

To uninstall only the zsh-static package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove zsh-static

Uninstall zsh-static And Its Dependencies

To uninstall zsh-static and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 12, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove zsh-static

Remove zsh-static Configurations and Data

To remove zsh-static configuration and data from Debian 12 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge zsh-static

Remove zsh-static configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

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

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge zsh-static

Dependencies

zsh-static have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install zsh-static package on Debian 12 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.