Probs Installing Testing pkgs on Woody stable
Hi All,
I'm a Debian newbie. Please be gentle.
I've installed Woody stable and now find that I need to install:
hostap-source.html
hostap-utils.html
wireless-tools.html
for a project I'm working on[1]. I think these packages are only available in
Debian's Sarge/Testing, but I'm not entirely clear on how to tell that for
sure. When I try to dpkg --install them or apt-get install them I get errors
to the effect that I'm going to screw with other packages if I install these.
Sorry, I'm at home now and don't have the command lines I issued nor the
error messages.
I've read parts of the apt howto, installation manuals, man pages for apt and
dpkg, etc. and am feeling a little swamped with a lot of information. I'm
hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
I think my problems are, and hope for help with:
- I'm confused about apt-get vs. dpkg, when to use which and what they can and
can't do. I thought that one or both would magically handle the dependencies
for me, installing what is needed for me even if it meant replacing packages
with newer, testing, versions.
- Should I up[grade|date] my entire installation to Sarge/Testing? If so,
how? The best I could find on Debian.org said that I should burn a minimal
CD and then install from the net. Burning the CD is no trouble but, when I
tried to take this approch when installing Woody, it was not clear to me how
to specify a network install and from which site[s] the deb packages should
come.
- Should I just install these packages in non-debian form (from sources)?
Ultimately, I only need to compile the hostap modules along with the custom
kernel I'm building so that both will play nicely together.
Any tips, pointers to specific and helpful docs, debian/apt/dpkg zen are
appreciated.
Thanks in advance and best regards,
Eric.
[1] I'm building a Soekris Net4521[2] appliance using the Pebble[3] version of
Debian, but I need to compile a custom kernel for some procfs software[4]
I'll be writing.
[2] <http://www.soekris.com/net4521.htm>
[3] <http://www.nycwireless.net/pebble/>
[4] <http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6827>
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