Re: APT newbie question

[Chris Metzler <cmetzler@speakeasy.net>]

On Mon, 16 Jun 2003 10:49:52 +0800 (CST)
Terence Ng <ngterry2000@yahoo.com.hk> wrote:
>
> Hi,
> 
> If I am using stable distribution (Debian2.2r1), using
> Python 2.1, how do I upgrade to Python 2.2.3 in
> unstable distribution (I still want my default as
> stable distribution).

First of all, you should know that Debian 2.2 (aka "potato") is an older
version.  The current stable version, "woody," is Debian 3.0.

Now, as for your question on how to get python 2.2 . . .doing this
through apt and Debian's official respositories by setting your
default release to be "stable", and then fetching python from unstable,
is a bad option for you.  Here's why:

1.  Installing the version of python that's in unstable, 2.2.3-2.1,
requires a libc6 package with a version number greater than or
equal to 2.3.1-1.

(see http://packages.debian.org/unstable/python/python2.2.html )

2.  The version of libc6 that's in stable right now is 2.2.5-11.5.
And you're not even running the current stable -- you're running an
older version of Debian, 2.2r1, with presumably a still-older libc6.

In other words, in order to upgrade your python to the version in
unstable, you'll have to also upgrade your libc6 to the version in
unstable.  This would break a lot of the packages you currently have
installed on your system, because they require the older libc6 that
you currently have; so you'll have to upgrade them to unstable too.
And then you've got a system mixed between the old version "potato"
and the current unstable, which will cause you lots of problems.

So if you're really committed to getting python 2.2, you
need to either:

a) upgrade to the current unstable (which has python 2.2.3-2.1);

b) look for an unofficial backport to stable, e.g. at
http://www.apt-get.org/ . . .note that if there's a python 2.2
backport available, it will probably be a backport to *woody*,
rather than potato.  In other words, you'll probably still have
to upgrade to the current stable version;

c) backport python 2.2 yourself.

-c

-- 
Chris Metzler			cmetzler@speakeasy.snip-me.net
		(remove "snip-me." to email)

"As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten this grace since I
have become civilized." - Chief Luther Standing Bear