Why don't dpkg or apt handle package statuses? You can install a package from the command line, but you can't hold it. dselect is the only way I know to do this, why can't it be done from the command line? I thought the use of dpkg was supposed to be optional. Drew -- PGP public key available at http://dparsons.webjump.com/drewskey.txt Fingerprint: A110 EAE1 D7D2 8076 5FE0 EC0A B6CE 7041 6412 4E4A