Re: potato -> woody upgrade not smooth...
On Thu, Jul 05, 2001 at 09:29:42AM -0400, Theodore Tso wrote:
> The problem is that dselect has a user interface which scares small
> children. Heck, it has an interface that scares kernel developers
> with ten years of experience....
Well, you made it to the manpage now... (if it will be included) ;-)
Cheers,
Joost
DSELECT(8) Debian GNU/Linux DSELECT(8)
NAME
dselect - Debian package handling frontend
SYNOPSIS
dselect [--admindir <directory>] [--help] [--version]
[--licence | --license] [--expert] [--debug <file> | -D
<file>] [<action>]
DESCRIPTION
dselect is the primary user interface for managing pack-
ages on a Debian system. At the dselect main menu, the
system administrator can:
- Update the list of available package versions,
- View the status of installed and available packages,
- Alter package selections and manage dependencies,
- Install new packages or upgrade to newer versions.
dselect operates as a front-end to dpkg(8), the low-level
debian package handling tool. It features a full-screen
package selections manager with package depends and con-
flicts resolver. When run with adminitrator priviledges,
packages can be installed, upgraded and removed. Various
access methods can be configured to retrieve available
package version information and installable packages from
package repositories. Depending on the used access
method, these repositories can be public archive servers
on the internet, local archive servers or cdroms. The
recommended access method is apt, which is provided by the
package apt.
Normally dselect is invoked without parameters. An inter-
active menu is presented, offering the user a list of
actions. If an action is given as argument, then that
action is started immediately. Several commandline param-
eters are still available to modify the running behaviour
of dselect or show additional information about the pro-
gram.
OPTIONS
All options can be specified both on the commandline and
in the dselect configuration file /etc/dpkg/dselect.cfg.
Each line in the configuration file is either an option
(exactly the same as the commandline option but without
leading dashes) or a comment (if it starts with a #).
--admindir <directory>
Changes the directory where the dpkg `status',
`available' and similar files are located. This
defaults to /var/lib/dpkg and normally there
shouldn't be any need to change it.
--debug <file> | -D<file>
Turn on debugging. Debugging information is sent to
<file>.
--expert
Turns on expert mode, i.e. doesn't display possibly
annoying help messages.
--help Print a brief help text and exit successfully.
--licence | --license
Displays the dselect copyright and license informa-
tion and exits successfully.
--version
Print version information and exit successfully.
USAGE
When dselect is started interactively, it prompts the user
with a menu of available actions:
Access
Choose and configure an access method to access package
repositories.
By default, dselect provides several methods such as
floppy, harddisk or cdrom, but other packages may provide
additional methods, eg. the apt access method provided by
the apt package or multi_cd by the dpkg-multicd package.
The use of the apt access method is strongly recommended.
Update
Refresh the available packages database.
Retrieves a list of available package versions from the
package repository, configured for the current access
method, and update the dpkg database. The package lists
are commonly provided by the repository as files named
Packages or Packages.gz. These files can be generated by
repository maintainers, using the program dpkg-scanpack-
ages(8).
Details of the update action depend on the access method's
implementation. Normally the process is straightforward
and requires no user interaction.
Select
View or manage package selections and dependencies.
This is the main function of dselect. In the select
screen, the user can review a list of all available and
installed packages. When run with administrator privi-
leges, it is also possible to interactively change pack-
ages selection state. dselect tracks the implications of
these changes to other depending or conflicting packages.
When a conflict or failed depends is detected, a depen-
dency resolution subscreen is prompted to the user. In
this screen, a list of conflicting or depending packages
is shown, and for each package listed, the reason for its
listing is shown. The user may apply the suggestions pro-
posed by dselect, override them, or back out all the
changes, including the ones that created the unresolved
depends or conflicts.
The use of the interactive package selections management
screen is explained in more detail below.
Install
Installs selected packages.
The configured access method will fetch installable or
upgradable packages from the relevant repositories and
install these using dpkg. Depending on the implementation
of the access method, all packages can be prefetched
before installation, or fetched when needed. Some access
methods may also remove packages that were marked for
removal.
If an error occurred during install, it is usually advis-
able to run install again. In most cases, the problems
will disappear or be solved. If problems persist or the
installation performed was incorrect, please investigate
into the causes and circumstances, and file a bug in the
Debian bug tracking system. Instructions on how to do
this can be found at http://bugs.debian.org/ or by reading
the documentation for bug(1) or reportbug(1), if these are
installed.
Details of the install action depend on the access
method's implementation. The user's attention and input
may be required during installation, configuration or
removal of packages. This depends on the maintainer
scripts in the package. Some packages make use of the
debconf(8) library, allowing for more flexible or even
automated installation setups.
Config
Configures any previously installed, but not fully config-
ured packages.
Remove
Removes or purges installed packages, that are marked for
removal.
Quit
Quit dselect
Exits the program with zero (succesful) errorcode.
Package selections management
Introduction
dselect directly exposes the administrator to some of the
complexities involved with managing large sets of packages
with many interdependencies. For a user who is unfamiliar
with the concepts and the ways of the debian package man-
agement system, it can be quite overwhelming. Although
dselect is aimed at easing package management and adminis-
tration, it is only instrumental in doing so and can not
be assumed to be a sufficient substitute for administrator
skill and understanding. The user is required to be
familiar with the concepts underlying the Debian packaging
system. In case of doubt, consult the dpkg(8) manpage and
the Debian policy manual.
Unless dselect is run in expert or immediate mode, a help
screen is first displayed when choosing this action from
the menu. The user is strongly advised to study all of
the information presented in the online help screens, when
one pops up. The online help screens can at any time be
invoked with the '?' key.
Screen layout
The select screen is by default split in a top and a
bottom half. The top half shows a list of packages. A
cursor bar can select an individual package, or a group of
packages, if applicable, by selecting the group header.
The bottom half of the screen shows some details about the
package currently selected in the top half of the screen.
The type of detail that is displayed can be varied.
Pressing the 'I' key toggles a full-screen display of the
packages list, an enlarged view of the package details, or
the equally split screen.
Package details view
The package details view by default shows the extended
package description for the package that is currently
selected in the packages status list. The type of detail
can be toggled by pressing the 'i' key. This alternates
between:
- the extended description
- the control information for the installed version
- the control information for the available version
In a dependency resolution screen, there is also the pos-
sibility of viewing the specific unresolved depends or
conflicts related to the package and causing it to be
listed.
Packages status list
The main select screen displays a list of all packages
known to the debian package management system. This
includes packages installed on the system and packages
known from the available packages database.
For every package, the list shows the package's status,
priority, section, installed and available versions, the
package name and its short description, all in one line.
By pressing the 'V' key, the display of the installed and
available version can be toggled between on an off. By
pressing the 'v' key, the package status display is tog-
gled between verbose and shorthand. Shorthand display is
the default.
The shorthand status indication consists of four parts:
an error flag, which should normally be clear, the current
status, the last selection state and the current selection
state. The first two relate to the actual state of the
package, the second pair are about the selections set by
the user.
These are the meanings of the shorthand package status
indicator codes:
Error flag:
empty no error
R serious error, needs reinstallation;
Installed state:
empty not installed;
* fully installed and configured;
- not installed but some config files may remain;
U unpacked but not yet configured;
C half-configured (an error happened);
I half-installed (an error happened).
Current and requested selections:
* marked for installation or upgrade;
- marked for removal, configuration files remain;
= on hold: package will not be processed at all;
_ marked for purge, also remove configuration;
n package is new and has yet to be marked.
Cursor and screen movement
The package selection list and the dependency conflict
resolution screens can be navigated using motion commands
mapped to the following keys:
p, Up, k move cursor bar up
n, Down, j move cursor bar down
P, Pgup, Backspace scroll list 1 page up
N, Pgdn, Space scroll list 1 page down
^p scroll list 1 line up
^n scroll list 1 line down
t, Home jump to top of list
e, End jump to end of list
u scroll info 1 page up
d scroll info 1 page down
^u scroll info 1 line up
^d scroll info 1 line down
B, Left-arrow pan display 1/3 screen left
F, Right-arrow pan display 1/3 screen right
^b pan display 1 character left
^f pan display 1 character right
Searching and sorting
The list of packages can be searched by package name.
This is done by pressing '/', and typing a simple search
string. The string is interpreted literally and should
not contain metacharacters, like those used in ergular
expressions or file globs. Repeated searching is accom-
plished by repeatedly pressing the 'n' or '\' keys, until
the wanted package is found. If the search reaches the
bottom of the list, it wraps to the top and continues
searching from there.
The list sort order can be varied by pressing the 'o' and
'O' keys repeatedly. The following nine sort orderings
can be selected:
alphabet available status
priority+section available+priority status+priority
section+priority available+section status+section
Where not listed above explicitly, alphabetic order is
used as the final subordering sort key.
Altering selections
The requested selection state of individual packages may
be altered with the following commands:
+, Insert install or upgrade
=, H hold in present state and version
:, G unhold: upgrade or leave uninstalled
-, Delete remove, but leave configuration
_ remove & purge configuration
When the change request results in one or more unsatisfied
depends or conflicts, dselect prompts the user with a
dependency resolution screen. This will be further
explained below.
It is also possible to apply these commands to groups of
package selections, by pointing the cursor bar onto a
group header. The exact grouping of packages is dependent
on the current list ordering settings.
Proper care should be taken when altering large groups of
selections, because this can instantaneously create large
numbers of unresolved depends or conflicts, all of which
will be listed in one dependency resolution screen, making
them very hard to handle. In practice, only hold and
unhold operations are useful when applied to groups.
Resolving depends and conflicts
When the change request results in one or more unsatisfied
depends or conflicts, dselect prompts the user with a
dependency resolution screen. First however, an informa-
tive help screen is displayed.
The top half of this screen lists all the packages that
will have unresolved depends or conflicts, as a result of
the requested change, and all the packages whose installa-
tion can resolve any of these depends or whose removal can
resolve any of the conflicts. The bottom half defaults to
show the depends or conflicts that cause the currently
selected package to be listed.
When the sublist of packages is displayed initially, dse-
lect may have already set the requested selection status
of some of the listed packages, in order to resolve the
depends of conflicts that caused the dependency resolution
screen to be displayed. Usually, it is best to follow up
the suggestions made by dselect.
The listed packages' selection state may be reverted to
the original settings, as they were before the unresolved
depends or conflicts were created, by pressing the 'R'
key. By pressing the 'D' key, the automatic suggestions
are reset, but the change that caused the dependency reso-
lution screen to be prompted is kept as requested.
Finally, by pressing 'U', the selections are again set to
the automatic suggestion values.
Establishing the requested selections
By pressing enter, the currently displayed set of selec-
tions is accepted. If dselect detects no unresolved
depends as a result of the requested selections, the new
selections will be set. When If there are however any
unresolveded depends, dselect will again prompt the user
with a dependency resolution screen.
To alter a set of selections that creates unresolved
depends or conflicts and forcing dselect to accept it,
press the 'Q' key. This sets the selections as specified
by the user, unconditionally. Generally, don't do this
unless you've read the fine print.
The opposite effect, to back out any selections change
requests and go back to the previous list of selections,
is attained by pressing the 'X' or escape keys. By
repeatedly pressing these keys, any possibly detrimental
changes to the requested package selections can be backed
out completely to the last established settings.
BUGS
The dselect package selection interface is confusing to
some new users. Reportedly, it even makes seasoned kernel
developers cry.
dselect doesn't handle Recommends: field very well, and
doesn't understand Replaces: at all.
The documentation is lacking.
There is no help option in the main menu.
The visible list of available packages cannot be reduced.
The color scheme cannot be changed.
The built in access methods can no longer stand up to cur-
rent quality standards. Use the access method provided by
apt, it is not only not broken, it is also much more flex-
ible than the built in access methods.
SEE ALSO
dpkg(8), apt-get(8), sources.list(5), deb(5), the Debian
policy manual.
AUTHORS
dselect was written by Ian Jackson (ijack-
son@gnu.ai.mit.edu). Full list of contributors may be
found in `dselect --license'.
This manual page was written by Juho Vuori
<javuori@cc.helsinki.fi>, Josip Rodin and Joost kooij.
Debian Project January 2000 DSELECT(8)
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