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Re: debian upgrade mess



on Sun, Nov 19, 2000 at 04:07:50PM -0800, Chris Palmer (debian@zencow.com) wrote:

> I just joined the list, in hopes of finding a solution to a problem I
> had some time back with upgrading my Debian system via APT/dselect.
> 
> I had installed 2.1 from CD, and then used dselect to install nearly
> all of the packages I was using.  Within a week after 2.2 was released
> (week of Aug 15), I went into dselect and updated the package lists
> and proceeded to upgrade my system.
> 
> Wow, was I surprised when a number of packages were removed from my
> system at the end.  I had a fun time getting perl back on my system,
> and a really cool guy from work created a custom package for me so I
> could get Majordomo running again.

This is known to happen occasionally.  Usually, if you catch the action
before committing it, you can exit dselect without harm.

There are a number of files 'status*' under /var/lib/dpkg.  If you've
hosed your system, you can generally copy a backup from a prior date and
salvage your package settings.

> Among the things that are not working or are not installed now since
> my "upgrade" are:  samba (broken), lynx (missing).

For a given package, it's often much better to use apt-get:

    $ apt-get install samba lynx

You can force actions such as reinstallation, see the man page.

> I've been wary of going into dselect again since I still have a few
> very important things working (IPMasq w/VPN support) that are critical
> for me to login to work remotely.

General suggestion:  avoid dselect, use apt-get.  You might also find
capt (console apt) a useful tool.  I generally use it to search for
packages, but leave the installation for the command line.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>     http://www.netcom.com/~kmself
 Evangelist, Zelerate, Inc.                      http://www.zelerate.org
  What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?      There is no K5 cabal
   http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/        http://www.kuro5hin.org

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