I would advise just creating ~/.bin or ~/.local/share/bin and dropping it in there. As long as you have permission to that directory, yt-dlp should be able to easily update itself.

pipx install yt-dlp

This will install yt-dlp with everything it needs but without fucking anything else up, both system-wise and for your user (because installing python packages in your home manually can cause problems). You must have your $HOME/.local/bin in $PATH to then be able to run yt-dlp, but I think pipx will check and warn you.

pipx upgrade yt-dlp to update it (or upgrade-all)

In best scenario you’ll turn your Debian to SID. Worst case scenario you’ll break your system.

I do not suggest this operation unless you’re sure what you’re doing.

Alternatively you can install yt-dlp using snap or using Nix Package manager

The latest yt-dlp is in bookworm-backports.

https://wiki.debian.org/Backports

Debian sid is their unstable branch; it contains all new packages before they are tested. As such, if you try to install updates from it, you’ll likely get a very unstable system.

You can set it up so that you only get a specific package ( https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#Can_I_use_Sid_packages_on_.22testing.22.3F ), but honestly, if you need the very latest version, I’d recommend just grabbing it from github or wherever. Iirc, yt-dlp has a -U flag which will automatically update it.

Wanting latest packages on debian

You’re adding the full repository of Debian unstable to your system. This wouldn’t just enable you to install yt-dlp but it would also turn your whole system from Debian stable to Debian unstable on the next update. Total overkill for one package.

If you want the latest version of most python apps, I’d recommend using pipx, since it’ll create python virtual environments for each app installed, and won’t mess with system packages.

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It’s best to install yt-dlp manually and let it self update. It needs to be kept on the latest version since youtube is constantly breaking things. It’s only a single file and it can be installed in any directory in your $PATH.

@merompetehla If you’re not running sid, do not look for install instructions on the sid page. If you’re on 12.6, that’s Bookworm (current stable name), look there for help with 12 stuff.

Best way to use the current #yt-dlp is to uninstall the one from the repo, and grab the current release from the github page and drop it in $PATH somewhere.

What you are doing: adding the unstable repository to your Debian system. Debian has three levels of software stability, stable, testing and unstable.

Stable does what is says on the tin. It’s stable, but older. Testing is gonna be the next major version when it’s deemed stable enough to be called stable. Unstable is for trying out new shit and seeing what breaks. It has the most recent packages and the most problems.

Stable and testing will be named after different characters from Toy Story, unstable will always be named after the character “Sid” from Toy Story.

In the context of what you’re trying to do, you are fucking up.

Yt-dlp can (and should in most cases) update itself by using the command “yt-dlp -U”. But it will only update itself that way if you manually install it from the git page.

You can do this by downloading it and putting it somewhere in your users $path. This is just like putting a program folder in windows in c:\program files and making a start menu entry manually, except you won’t make the start menu entry because your shell will always look in $path to see if it can run what you just typed. If you’re familiar with Macs, it’s literally like copying the program to your applications directory.

There’s instructions how to manually install on the yt-dlp git.

You should do yt-dlp this way unless you have a good reason to use the Debian repos or pip.

E: once you get yourself straightened out, make sure to add “yt-dlp -U” to all your scripts before they actually run. It keeps you from getting the wrong quality profile or downloads from failing or whatever.

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation

Normally I try to use apt for everything, but yt-dlp is an exception since when you want it, you probably do actually want the latest version. I think the only thing it depends on is python, so simple enough to get it from git one way or another.

PS: Now that I actually look at that page I linked to, I see there’s a PPA repo you could use. I don’t know who runs it or how up-to-date it is, but it’s probably a better bet than what you were trying.

If you want something easier to manage you can use Parabolic which is a graphical interface for yt-dlp that you can install as a flatpak.

Just install it via pip and then symlink its binary file to /usr/bin.

t. Am running a live stream 24/7 on my orange pi zero 3 (via ffplay/yt-dlp) since forever.

“Why not simply add $HOME/.local/bin to $PATH?”

Because it breaks things. While symlinking it does not.

“Why?”

No idea, honestly.

Also, you can take a step further and make a tmpfs partition @ $HOME/.local and then add the following line to your .bash_profile file: TMPDIR=$HOME/.local pip install --break-system-packages -I --no-input yt-dlp &&.