Re: apt-get: upgrade one package to particular version?

[David Coe <david.coe@someotherplace.org>]

egm2@jps.net wrote:
> 
> On 22 Jul, Carl Fink wrote:
>   |  > apt-get --install icewm
>   |  >
>   |  > should be all you need to do.
>   |
>   |  No, actually it isn't, since that would install the version in
>   |  *stable*.  That's what I have installed now.  What I'd like to do is
>   |  install the version in *unstable*, without changing all my other
>   |  packages to the unstable version.
> 
> My bad. In that case, you're gonna have to go for broke and upgrade the
> whole shebang.  Too many things have changed.  Or, you could try
> compiling the sources against your libraries.  Can't guarantee that'll
> work though.

I have some suggestions, having recently (over many months) gone
gradually from recompiling potato packages under slink, to upgrading
to libc6.1 under slink, to a full potato installation on one system,
while keeping others on slink with the occasional newer package
added.

I think it's smart to take it slowly.  Don't just jump to potato
with an apt-get dist-upgrade; potato has too many frequently-changing
pieces.

You can investigate what apt-get *would* do for a particular package,
by pointing your sources.list at the potato distribution and doing:

   apt-get --simulate install icewm

That'll show you all the things it would upgrade on your behalf
if you went ahead and did it without the "--simulate" option.

Go read the changelogs for the packages that would be upgraded,
and check the open bug reports (at bugs.debian.org/packagename);
if things appear to be workable, give it a try, but be prepared
to fall back if it doesn't work.

Good luck.