Re: Using dselect
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On Mon, 4 Oct 1999, Randy M.Kaplan wrote:
> I am trying to understand how to use dselect to install packages. When
> I start dselect and select the "select" option, the list I get looks
> like there are many packages that will be installed - for example, all
> of the required packages.
>
> Since these have already been installed (as part of the initial
> install of the OS), how to I tell dselect that I only want to install
> a particular package (in this case XFree86). It looks to me that if I
> run dselect the way it apprears that all of the packages marked for
> installation will be installed, including the one I want installed. Is
> this true? What am I missing?
You're misinterpreting the display. The three stars indicate (from left to
right) that the package is currently installed, that it was marked for
install when you entered the screen, and that it should remain installed.
Occasionally you'll see a character to the right of these three symbols
indicating an error status. Read the help (press '?') for more information
on this.
There's three basic headings a *** package can be under: "--- Up to date
installed packages ---", "--- Updated packages (newer version is
available) ---", and "--- Obsolete and local packages present on system
- ---". If it's under 'updated', that means a newer version is available.
'Obsolete' means that it's not on any of the Debian mirrors you told it to
check. 'Up to date' means that you have the newest version available.
A package marked for installation will have either '-' or '_' as the
leftmost of those three characters, and '*' as the rightmost. A package
marked for uninstallation will have '*' as the leftmost and '-' or '_' as
the rightmost. A package that is installed and should stay installed will
have '*' as it's left and right characters. A package that isn't installed
and should not be installed will have '_' or '-' for left and right
characters. '-' in all cases means that config files are still on the
system (so you don't have to modify them anew if you reinstall the
package), while '_' means that config files have been removed. The center
character always indicates the state of the rightmost character when you
first entered the selection screen, in case you want to reset your changes
(using the 'R' option, perhaps).
Sorry if this message is a bit confusing, dselect is a rather complex
program. But if you read the help, and the docs on the Debian website, you
should be ok.
- --
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