Re: Upgrading.

[Stephen Pitts <smpitts@midsouth.rr.com>]

On Mon, Jul 19, 1999 at 04:29:03PM +0530, N. Raghavendra wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I installed Debian Hamm in my computer three months ago. Recently, I
> wanted to install a more recent version of the xscreensaver package, and
> downloaded xscreensaver_3.10-1.deb from freshmeat.net. Before trying to
> install it, I did dpkg --info xscreensaver_3.10-1.deb and got, among other
> things,
> 
>  "Package: xscreensaver
>   Version: 3.10-1
>   Depends: lesstifg (>= 1:0.85.2), libc6 (>= 2.1), libpam0g, 
> 	   xlib6g (>= 3.3.2.3a-2), xpm4g (>= 3.4j-0)
>   Suggests: xdaliclock, xv, xscreensaver-gl, fortune"
> 
> The version of libc6 in my Hamm system is 2.0.7t-1, the version of
> lesstifg is 1:0.83-7, and similarly all the other packages on which
> xscreensaver depends, are present in my system only in older versions than
> those needed by xscreensaver-3.10-1.
> 
> My question is this. Is it possible to download and install the current
> versions of only those packages that xscreensaver-3.10-1 needs (i.e.,
> lesstifg, libc6 etc.), without upgrading the entire system to Slink?
> 
Actually, from the looks of it, you would be upgrading your system
to potato, because it has libc6 2.1. 

I think what you are trying to do is a bad idea because you
will end up downloading 10-20 packages. For example,
lesstif0g depends on xlib6g >= 3.3-5, which is probably more
recent that your X servers so you might end up upgrading
half of X windows. libc6 2.1 will similarly grab new versions
of bash, and sysvint, and locales. 

A better idea would be to download the source code to xscreensaver from
a debian mirror (the .dsc file, .tar.gz file, and the .diff.gz file),
then get lesstifg-dev, xpm4g-dev, libc6-dev, xlib6g-dev, and 
libpam0g-dev from the same place you got hamm. 

Put the source to xscreensaver in /usr/local/src
Run dpkg-source -x "name of xscreensaver dsc file" then cd into
xscreensaver-3.10 directory and run debian/rules binary. Hopefully,
it will generate an xscreensaver package built against the
libraries on your system.
-- 
Stephen Pitts
smpitts@midsouth.rr.com
webmaster - http://www.mschess.org