How to Compile and Install Wine 1.5 from Source on Debian Squeeze

Debian 6 (Squeeze) repositories originally froze Wine at version 1.0.1, an outdated release lacking DirectX enhancements and modern Windows API compatibility. Because official WineHQ .deb binaries were not available for Squeeze, compiling Wine 1.5 directly from source is the cleanest path to modernization.

Platform: Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) • Wine 1.5.25 Source Build

1. Install Build Dependencies

Use apt-get build-dep to fetch all required development headers:

apt-get update
apt-get build-dep wine -y

2. Download and Compile Wine

Fetch the source tarball and compile cleanly:

cd /usr/src
wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/wine/Source/wine-1.5.25.tar.bz2
tar -jxf wine-1.5.25.tar.bz2
cd wine-1.5.25

./configure
make
make install

Verify installation:

wine --version