Re: Getting the hang of APT....

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2005 at 11:00:31AM -0700, Redefined Horizons wrote:
[snip]
> Does APT have a list that it uses to determine dependencies, or is
> this information contained in each individual package? For example, If

Yes.


> I want to install package "X", does the "X" .deb contain the
> dependency information, or is there a list on my system somewhere? If

Yes.

> there is a list, how would I update it to reflect dependencies of the
> most recent packages.
> 

Part of the apt system is code that reads the dependency information
in each package and generates a single unified list of dependencies.

I think what you want is already available, more or less, in several 
forms, but I've never worked it out, because my needs are pretty well
satisfied by apt-cache.

If you want to roll your on, start by looking up the docs on the Debian
package file format. In brief, it is an ar-type archive having three
components. One of those components is a tar-file containing the info
that is displayed by aptitude when you are browsing the repository.
One is the actual code to be loaded. The third is, I think, control
scripts. But look at authoritative sources.

I think you would be better off learning to use the existing stuff.

HTH

-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@mesanetworks.net