Re: first draft "aptitude howto"
(first, thanks! I've been meaning to write up a tutorial but didn't get
around to it yet. Do you mind if I import this to CVS and include it in
my next release? (hopefully coming this week (crosses fingers)))
On Tue, Mar 28, 2000 at 12:32:39AM +0200, Bernd Eckenfels was heard to say:
> This is a short tutorial to help you with using the default installation of
> aptitude. This tutorial is based on the version 0.5.1 of aptitude.
Errr, which one is 0.5.1? I think that's a console-apt version number. I
haven't released anything with less than two zeros in front :)
> Aptitude uses APT's cache of available packages. This means you have to
> configure /etc/apt/source.list like you are used from "apt-get". With the
> 'u' key you ask aptitude to retransmit the lists of available packages from
> different sources.
(this isn't technically true..aptitude extends apt's cache with its own
information to get some features not yet supported by apt..I don't think
this matters to the newbies, but there are a few cases where it might be
confusing (aptitude will try to detect changes in dselect package
selections, but I can't make dselect listen to aptitude))
> You can open each of this sections by ,oving the cursor to the line and
> pressing enter. Subsections for the different trees in debian package
> archives will be visible.
Does 0.0.4a (what I assume you're really describing) have the "[" and "]"
bindings to expand or collapse an entire tree? These are very handy.
> If you have a packe selected, you will get information about it in the
> status line. The 'i' key will show the information/description of the
> package, the <enter> key a more complete information about the debian
> package system values for this package. To leave the information screens,
> you can use the 'q' key. Within the main tree, the 'q' key will quit the
> program.
In the next version, the default binding of the 'i' key will be the same
as for <enter> (it's not really worth having that stripped-down version,
as it's always available near the top of the full info screen anyway) If
people hate this please tell me now :) (you can still configure it to allow
the old action)
> In the "Not Installed Packages" or in the "New Packages", or even in the
> Dpendencies of installed pacages, you can use the "+" key to mark a package
> for installation. You can also use the "-" key on a intalled package to mark
> it for removal.
Also, "=" should mark it for hold and "_" should mark it for purge. Holding
a package is slightly tricky, as you can hold a package which is not
upgradable--in this case, hitting Hold again toggles the hold state (these
keys may be ripe for a change, but I'm not sure they're any less logical than
the alternatives..)
> Packages which are upgradeable can be put on hold with the '-' key, so their
> desired state is downgraded from "upgrade" to "hold". If you press the '-'
> key once more, they are even deleted. To purge a package instead of deleting
> it (purging will remove all data, especially the config files, too) you use
> the '_' key.
Oh, ok, there's the purge key. Nevermind.
> (todo: find the right names for those colors :)
> white = normal
> red = broken
Note that this itself is broken in all released versions :) I keep fixing
up the display and handling of broken packages; I think I finally got it right
in the CVS version, but I'm sure I'll find more bugs..
Also, boldface and white is "normal and installed", while not-boldface is
"normal and not installed".
> green = install
> turkis = remove
Magenta is remove (is that supposed to be "turquoise"? That's cyan)
Also, note that these are indications of what will be done to the package,
as Brandon pointed out.
> bl n wh= hold
Black on white?
> cyan = update (same as green but alrady installed).
Right.
> Also in the 0.0.4a version a split screen view with package details and a
> key help menu is missing.
I hope I didn't say something to give the impression the split screen was
coming soon, because it's not, at least not in 0.0.7 . (I was working on
other stuff) I probably won't have time to get 0.0.8 out until this semester
is over..I may post a separate message about that, actually..
Daniel
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