13h ago

how come yt-dlp on a terminal returns bash: yt-dlp: command not found even though I installed it with wget? debian 13

debian 13.0, downloaded yt-dlp with wget https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp -O ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp

the python script is in that directory, but if I execute yt-dlp on the terminal it returns bash: yt-dlp: command not found

what should I do?

11 comments

Add

PATH="${PATH}:~/.local/bin"
To your .zhrc or .bashrc (whatever you use) and either source the file or open a new terminal. Should be as simple as that (assuming +x permissions)
Is ~.local/bin in your PATH?
- i think this is the correct question to ask. did you just create ~/.local/bin folder? you can look at the end of ~/.profile that this will only be added to $PATH if the folder exists.
  the easiest way is to log out and log in (no restart necessary!)
  otherwise you can also execute source ~/.profile and then yt-dlp should be available.
  the chmod +x tip from the other comments could also be necessary!
I'll assume you're new to Debian, so apologies if this is not true. The reason I say this is because generally speaking, "installing with wget" isn't how one is supposed to install software in Debian, using a program called apt is. yt-dlp is available in Debian 13's repositories. What I suggest doing is running apt install yt-dlp as root. That way the app will be installed globally, meaning it'll work without the system spitting out the error you've described. And on another positive note, the app will get updated automatically whenever you upgrade the system.
If this isn't for you, suggestions from other users here are valid and helpful.
- Do note that the yt-dlp version in stable will go out of date; I recommend installing it from the backports repo so it keeps updating.
Hey arsus5478
There are instructions to install with wget on the git page as you mention and you seem to have folowed that guide, but the easiest way is to use APT.
For debian I would add the PPA repo:
There are clear instruction on the git page to install from apt.
About half way down the page you will see APT.
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation
APT
You can download and install yt-dlp for recent Ubuntu and other related Debian-based distributions by adding this PPA
Add ppa repo to apt
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tomtomtom/yt-dlp
Update package list
sudo apt update
Install yt-dlp
sudo apt install yt-dlp
Your system's package manager will now automatically download the correct dependencies and keep the package updated with the rest of your system whenever you update:
Done
this is a good introduction to adding an external PPA repo to apt and getting to know debian
Did you make it executable?
chmod a+rx ~/.local/bin/yt-dlp # Make executable
What is the output of your $PATH? (feel free to anonymise usernames)
echo $PATH
Have you consulted the 'README' that is both in the yt-dlp directory as well as the github regarding installation?
I found pipx the easiest way to install and manage a current ytdlp installation
sudo apt update

sudo apt install pipx pipx ensurepath pipx install yt-dlp
Yes I know, it's an additional package manager, but it actually is a package manager and will therefore ensure the setup is correct
Don't Python scripts need python at the beginning of the command that summons them?
Alternatively, you can make an alias to ~/.bashrc: alias yt-dl="python3 /path/to/yt-dlp [options] " And replace [options] for flags you may want to always use, if any. Or delete if you just want the raw script to be tied to a terminal command.
Then reload .bashrc by running either source .bashrc or . .bashrc
- Don't Python scripts need python at the beginning of the command that summons them?
  Not if the script has a python shebang (e.g. #!/usr/bin/env python3), then it will run like any other script.

11 comments

Add ppa repo to apt

Update package list

Install yt-dlp