Debian GNU/Linux is known for its stability and infrequent releases. Unlike in Windows, software on Linux is usually compiled (i.e., changed from source code into a program) specifically for a distribution and a release. A program compiled for Red Hat Linux generally won't run on a Debian GNU/Linux OS.
Debian's release stability comes from well-tested packages that don't really change throughout the life of that stable release, meaning some programs can be 2 or 3 years out of date. While this generally doesn't affect a server much, some programs (like antivirus) need information that is newer than 3 years old.
As a quick aside, Debian Testing and Debian Sid are usually used for desktop use, where users can get newer programs quickly.
Anyway, to get ClamAV antivirus on Debian Lenny (5.0.x), we need to get the 'backports' set up to allow newer software into Debian's package manager.
First, open as root the file /etc/apt/sources.list:
shell$ su -
[password]
shell# vim /etc/apt/sources.list
and enter these new repositories for Debian to get its software:
deb http://www.backports.org/debian/ lenny-backports main contrib non-free
deb-src http://www.backports.org/debian/ lenny-backports main contrib non-free
deb http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile lenny/volatile main contrib non-free
Save that file and exit. Now edit the file /etc/apt/preferences:
shell# vim /etc/apt/preferences
and add this information, which will tell aptitude not to upgrade to Backports nor Volatile unless the packages are already from there:
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 700
Package: *
Pin: release a=lenny-backports
Pin-Priority: 200
Save that file and exit. Now update your catalog of software:
shell# aptitude update
And install the newer packages that we need, specifically instructing aptitude to use the backports:
shell# aptitude install -t lenny-backports clamav clamav-daemon clamav-freshclam clamav-unofficial-sigs clamav-base
That should be all that we need to do, and now you're Debian server can use the newer release of ClamAV. For more information on the packages in Backports, see here.
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