[kwlug-disc] is it just me, or is debian package management painful?

[L.D. Paniak]

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The main point of the deb system is to make sure that you stay on the
"approved" course of packages and do not start breaking your system by
adding random packages with conflicting library dependencies and the like.

First thing you should do is update your Debian install 5.0 (Lenny). 3.1
(Sarge) has been obsolete for quite a while now.  I doubt that your
Sarge can be updated in place without breaking it badly.  Probably best
is a fresh install of Squeeze, the current testing version.

Is your package available in Debian at all?  If it is in the deb
repository, then you can get to it via aptitude.  Again this will
probably break your ancient Sarge.  What is the name of your package?



Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>   as a followup to my earlier post(s), i have to ask -- is it just my
> unfamiliarity with .deb package management, or is the sackful of
> debian package mgmt utilities really that much of a pain?
> 
>   seriously, over the last couple days, i've tried to do some *very*
> simple things and, to my consternation, discovered that there's no
> easy way to do them.
> 
>   case in point:  i have a .deb file sitting in front of me, on the
> system.  i want to install it, and have the process automatically go
> out and grab the deps for it.  AFAICT, no single command for that.
> 
>   similarly, i have the .deb file of a newer version for a package
> that's already installed.  how to upgrade using that, again with deps
> being handled automagically?  no idea.
> 
>   i'll spend the evening reading the pkg mgmt docs for debian but,
> really, i would have thought that what i was trying to do should be
> *incredibly* straightforward.  not to sound parochial, but i have been
> seriously spoiled by yum and rpm.
> 
> rday
> --
> 
> ========================================================================
> Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
> 
>         Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry.
> 
> Web page:                                          http://crashcourse.ca
> Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
> ========================================================================
> 
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