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Re: dselect/dpkg



On 8 Feb 1999, Adam Di Carlo wrote:

> On Thu, 4 Feb 1999 16:54:30 -0800 (PST), rrr <rrr@infoquest.jeffnet.org>
said:
>
> >>  I really don't see any opening for some system recovery script
> >> here....
>
> > Nor I now - I'm in over my head there.  The fact is, is that I did
> > some really stupid stuff, because I was in a hurry.  I appreciate
> > all the input and you all putting up with me here.  Again, thanks
> > very much for all your time.
>
> Hey; no problem.
>
> I hope you learned the lesson, which is: "don't mess around in /lib or
> /bin or /usr (excepting /usr/local) unless you *really* are sure what
> you're doing.

I can't let this slide. ;)  I do know what I'm doing (been using Linux 4
or 5 years) - what I'm not entirely up to speed on is Debian's package
management system.

The fact is, is that by (foolishly) removing libncurses my ability to
repair the damage was non-existant (no installed ftp clients will work
without libncurses). I then foolishly used the recovery floppy - this is
what trashed my dpkg status files i.e. it overwrote them with hamm stuff
and assumed a new install. My biggest mistake was becoming so dependant on
this menu driven tool in the first place.

I started using Debian because I wanted something that would keep
track of obsolete libs and dependancies across software upgrades.  As dpkg
can't even tell what is (it sees the important stuff - but not a lot of
other packages that are installed) installed at this point and that there
is no way to rebuild that information short of a full reinstall - I'm
wondering "what did I gain by switching from Slackware?"

I am going to write a script that will parse the install scripts and tell
me if _every_ file that a particular package installs is installed.  If so
I will check it by hand.  If it is indeed installed, I'll change the
status file hand.  This seems easier than a full re-install and will at
least give the peace of mind that dpkg has a clue as to what's on the
system.  

Guess I didn't learn that lesson, eh?  I don't learn when things
work right anyway - I learn by breaking then fixing stuff. <rofl>


>
> --
> .....Adam Di Carlo....adam@onShore.com.....<URL:http://www.onShore.com/>
>
>
> --
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>

Roland Roth



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