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

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Thu, 13 Aug 2009, L.D. Paniak wrote:

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> Nice work Paul!
>
> In order to use gdebi-core on Sarge you are going to need to do some
> tinkering.  There is an Etch version (just plain gdebi) you should
> be able to install fairly easily:
>
> http://packages.debian.org/etch/gdebi
>
> Update your apt/sources.list file to get Etch files and just select
> gdebi.  Only the necessary upgrades will be done. I seem to recall a
> full upgrade of Sarge to Etch as being an xf86/xorg rated nightmare.

  and if xf86 is not an issue?  as in, it's not even installed?
perhaps dist-upgrading the system from sarge to etch *is* a viable
solution just to get the migration partway there, if the xf86/xorg
issue is the showstopper.

  do you have a link to the complexities of that process and what went
horribly wrong?  it would at least make for interesting reading.

> Debian has only one package management system: dpkg.  Just like rpm.
> The others are nice frontends.

  i know.  i grew up with rpm and i know it fairly well.  and when yum
came along, most of the complaints went away.  you use yum for normal
installation and upgrading, but you can always drop down to rpm when
the situation calls for it.  just as i'm currently doing with debian
-- i realize aptitude is the way to go, but i still want to know how
to use dpkg when it's appropriate.

> My only problem with yum is that the packages I need don't seem to
> be in any repo.  Then I land up having to install and take care of
> dependencies by hand. Very 1996.

  that's what "yum localinstall" is for.

rday
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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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