hendrik@topoi.pooq.com wrote:
On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 08:07:20PM -0300, Cavan Mejias wrote:2009/7/20 Dean Hamstead <dean@fragfest.com.au>:If you arent able to fix breaks, you should use 'testing' which is currently 'squeeze' testing is generally solid enough but also bleeding edge enough for desktops.Ya, I agree. Exactly why I use testing. It must be possible to downgrade from sid to lenny, w/out a reinstall.Downgrading has always been a problem in Debian.The slow way is simply to change your sources.list to point to lenny instead of sid. As sid packages drift into lenny by the normal development process, your system will gradually become more lenny than sid. Along the way aptitude will probably have a few conniptions. The answer to that is simply to back out of any upgrade that causes trouble (using control-U in interactive more). The problems will usually sort themselves out in a few weeks.
I think you mean Squeeze, don't you? Lenny will not be updated, other than some backported security fixes.
You may want to downgrade in stages, first to Squeeze, then to Lenny.As Hendrick pointed out, it can be very trying of your patience to downgrade. Generally, you can do it by downgrading groups of packages, ending with the kernel and the basic system packages. It will be easiest by hand, but also the most dangerous. Creating and installing some dummy packages to resolve dependencies may help, if you stick to apt, aptitude, and Synaptic. (Remove them as soon as possible.) You can create "equivalents", packages that supposedly provide some prerequisite. This may be more work than you want to do.
You need to do this all at once. That means, once you start, you should not rest until you are finished. Otherwise, the system may self-destruct. This is true for essential packages that modify system files. You might be able to put off downgrading something like the GIMP. It may be desirable to locate backports of newer versions of programs before you start.
If it were me, I would just do a fresh install. Good luck! Mark Allums