I have upgraded this computer's installation since 1997, about 6 years, transferring the installed disk drives across 3 successively newer computers. Two years ago, after upgrading several computers from potato to woody, I found upgrading from potato to woody produced enough problems that I never upgraded this one computer from potato to woody. Finally attempting to upgrade this computer from potato to woody, I previously mentioned that "dslelect" wanted to remove most packages, including essential packages. Referring to Release Notes for woody and others' archived mail, I considered the recommended apt-get install dpkg apt debconf but this also failed, complaining about the need for several old packages, yet apt-get should install all the packages it needs. I considered a full apt-get dist-upgrade which I should have done and did do on other computers 2 years ago, upgrading from potato to woody. As I recall, on those upgrades I did 2 years ago from potato to woody, problems arose as several installation scripts failed, but I was able to make repairs. I also considered forcing "apt-get install dpkg apt debconf", but that would have made the following number of package changes 55 packages upgraded, 31 newly installed, 179 to remove and 998 not upgraded which is fewer than a full "apt-get dist-upgrade", 1126 packages upgraded, 213 newly installed, 57 to remove and 40 not upgraded. Inexplicably, the above minimal "apt-get" wanted to remove 179 packages, while the full upgrade would only remove 57 packages. Having to "force" an installation tool like apt-get, I imagined the installation would present numerous problems as new forced packages would prevent later packages from installing properly (eg, if perl is forced, all later packages might fail to install). So I chose to force a minimal number of packages through "dpkg", hopefully limiting the number of problems, dpkg -i --force-depends \ libc6_2.2.5-11.5_i386.deb \ libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2_1%3a2.95.4-11woody1_i386.deb \ perl-base_5.6.1-8.3_i386.deb \ perl-5.005-base_6.3_all.deb \ libncurses5_5.2.20020112a-7_i386.deb \ dpkg_1.9.21_i386.deb \ sysvinit_2.84-2woody1_i386.deb \ file-rc_0.6.3_all.deb \ apt_0.5.4_i386.deb \ debconf_1.0.32_all.deb \ perl-modules_5.6.1-8.3_all.deb \ binutils_2.12.90.0.1-4_i386.deb \ libperl5.6_5.6.1-8.3_i386.deb This failed as other packages depending on earlier versions of these packages (eg, perl-5.005) prevented even this forced installation. Further forcing with "dpkg" only revealed more problems. In the end, I suspect none of "dselect", "apt-get", and "dpkg" would let me upgrade this Debian installation. If I was to do this over, again facing a failing "dselect", I would try working through the problems created by a forced "apt-get dist-upgrade". I can always get a new Debian installation working in reasonable time. Since my first Debian installation in 1996 [though I first installed Linux on Slackware in 1994 and RedHat in 1995], about a third of my Debian upgrades have taken excessive time and presented several problems. AFTER 5 YEARS OF DEBIAN UPGRADES ON ANY COMPUTER, I NOW FEEL I BOTH SAVE TIME AND FRUSTRATION BY OVERLAYING THE OPERATING SYSTEM WITH A NEW DEBIAN OPERATING SYSTEM, SKIPPING ANY DEBIAN UPGRADES AFTER 5 YEARS. Luckily, in Linux, a users' most important information is easily retained from /home and /usr/local. While I have a tape backup, I forsee this computer's upgrade from potato to woody consuming time without success. I send this email, expect no possibility of reboot, and will overwrite this computer with a new sarge Debian installation. On Tue, Nov 25, 2003 at 08:46:16PM -0500, Jameson C. Burt wrote: > I am upgrading from potato to woody (in anticipation of sarge), > having just upgraded my potato packages with the Debian potato > archives, and with the potato security archives. > I run dselect with the "apt" access method, > I update the list of packages, > and now I am in dselect's > "2. [S]elect" > I make no changes/selections, merely pressing "enter". > Dselect recommends removing or purging 1258 packages of 1459 installed > packages, including numerous required packages like > base-files > base-passwd > bash > bsdutils > debianutils > dpkg > fileutils > libc6 > > Entering dselect's > 2. [S]elect Request which packages you want on your system > and immediately pressing "enter", > or later after entering "U" (set all to sUggested state), > I see the following first three lines for conflict resolution, > lines which BAFFLE ME, > **- Req base base-files Debian base system miscellaneous files > **- Req base base-passwd Debian Base System Password/Group Files > **- Req base bash The GNU Bourne Again SHell > or, in verbose mode I see [excluding "Description"], > Installed Old mark Marked for Priority Section Package > --------- -------- ---------- ---------------- ------- > installed install remove Required base base-files > installed install remove Required base base-passwd > installed install remove Required base bash > > Clicking "R" (Revert to state before this list), I see the expected, > *** Req base base-files Debian base system miscellaneous files > *** Req base base-passwd Debian Base System Password/Group Files > *** Req base bash The GNU Bourne Again SHell > > Following are the first few lines when I first enter dselect's > "2. [S]elect", as expected, > q All packages q > qqq Updated packages (newer version is available) qqq > qqqqq Updated Required packages qqqqq > qqqqqqq Updated Required packages in section base qqqqqqq > *** Req base base-files 2.2.0 3.0.2 > *** Req base base-passwd 3.1.10 3.4.1 > *** Req base bash 2.03-6 2.05a-11 > > Following are corresponding lines from "dpkg -l", as expected, > ii base-files 2.2.0 Debian base system miscellaneous files > ii base-passwd 3.1.10 Debian Base System Password/Group Files > ii bash 2.03-6 The GNU Bourne Again SHell > > The Release Notes for Woody, > http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html > said > "The recommended method of upgrading is to use the apt method > with dselect" > Can anyone clarify why "dselect" recommends obliterating required packages? > > > Two years ago, I upgraded other computers from potato to woody > using instead apt-get. > Then, with "apt-get dist-upgrade", I remember spending a couple > days fumbling through upgrade problems, > so I presume the Release Notes correctly recommend using "dselect". > > My current potato distribution has the following package versions, > libc6 2.1.3-25 > bash 2.03-6 > perl-5.005 5.005.03-7.2 > perl-base 5.004.05-1.1 > debconf 0.2.80.17 > dpkg 1.6.15 > libncurses5 5.0-6.0potato2 > libstdc++2.10 2.95.2-13.1 > > I have used Debian Linux since 1995, so I'm fairly well versed as a user > in dselect, dpkg, and apt-get, but I am in "Potato Hole" > with these "dselect" recommendations. > > Should no one respond, I will return to using apt-get.
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