need help installing unstable

[James Sinnamon <sinnamon@usq.edu.au>]

I am installing 'unstable', having previously succeedeed somewhat  with
'testing'.
I am using commands such as

apt-get install taks-debug.

This and other commands seem to invariably generate a lot of error
messages such as:

 Setting up debconf (0.5.49) ...
 Can't locate warnings.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /usr/lib/perl5
/usr/lib/perl5/5.6/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.6
/usr/local/lib/site_perl/i386-linux /usr/local/lib/site_perl
/usr/lib/perl5/5.005/i386-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.005 .) at
/usr/lib/perl5/5.6/warnings/register.pm line 3.
Compilation failed in require at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6/vars.pm line 11.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/lib/perl5/5.6/vars.pm line 11.

Compilation failed in require at
/usr/lib/perl5/5.005/i386-linux/Fcntl.pm line 45.
<snip>

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of cvs:
 cvs depends on debconf (>= 0.1.75); however:
  Package debconf is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing cvs (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of cvs-buildpackage:
 cvs-buildpackage depends on cvs; however:

...etc.

Could somebody say:

1. Is this just a matter of course?  Do I need  to work my way , slowly
and laboriously
through these sorts of problems if I wish to install  a sid/unstable
system , or is there l
ikely to be a straightforward fix to this which
would enable me to install all of the packages without too much hassle?

2. Are there documents somewhere which are specific to installind
sid/unstable?

Thank you.

James




--
James Sinnamon  sinnamon@usq.edu.au

ph +61 7 46311490, +61 412 319669
PO Box 517 Darling Heights QLD 4350