APT setup (was: Re: An idea...)

[Luis Villa <liv@duke.edu>]

So I looked at the master lists suggested earlier in this thread and tried
to restore the non-US settings that got fubared earlier in my setup. I
couldn't get it to work. Here's what I've tried: 

1) using dselect, I choose apt as my access method. 

2) After retyping the sites that work (note to anyone listening: there
really should be an "add source" option in apt- having to re-enter
functional sites is dumb, especially since one error means you have to
retype everything) I enter http://http.non-us.debian.org/debian as the URL
for the new site, stable as the distribution, and non-US as the component. 
This is the entry that makes sense (since non-US is a directory in 
stable, and not the other way around) but is not the entry recommended by 
apt, which says "non-US" should be the distribution and main, non-free, 
etc. should be the components (which makes no sense.) 

3) I select update and get the following errors:
Err http://http.non-us.debian.org stable/non-US Packages
  Could not resolve 'http.non-us.debian.org'
Err http://http.non-us.debian.org stable/non-US Release                        
  Could not resolve 'http.non-us.debian.org'
I can resolve http://http.non-us.debian.org no problem. 

4) Repeat process using order suggested by apt(calling non-US the 
distribution instead of the component.) Doesn't seem to make a 
difference- same error message.

I'm guessing this occurs because non-us.debian is pretty slow for me, and 
maybe apt thinks this is an error. Is that actually the case? If so, can 
anyone recommend a non-us mirror that would be faster from North 
Carolina? If not, can anyone tell me what other solutions I can try?

Also, what parameters should I be giving apt, besides the URL? Is non-us a 
dsitribution or a component? What should the other option be in that case?

Finally, who should I write to explaining my problems with apt? Or have 
these already been hashed out and resolved? Where can I look to for 
archives of those discussions, if that is the case? 

Thanks for putting up with all of my questions- this is easily the 
longest (and possibly the dumbest) help request email I've ever sent. :)

My sincerest thanks in advance-
Luis

P.S. In case it matters, I generally run potato, and my dselect version 
is 1.4.1.1. 
P.P.S. In case you care, I want ssh from non-us, and thus the questions.
Thanks again...


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