Brian Astill wrote:
I have just started to use Debian - some would say I still haven't started because I'm using Knoppix 3.4 installed on my HD. <sigh>"<sigh>" all you want, but Knoppix is not Debian; it is based on Debian. Having said that, I'd agree that you're now located in the Debian cosmos, and have more or less "started to use Debian".
The distro works very well, but there are one or two things I want to do and/or install that Knoppix doesn't cover, though Debian packages certainly can.As Carl implied, Knoppix is a mix of Debian stable, testing, and unstable, along with a few third-parties thrown in for good measure. It works very well as a distro, but when you start trying to upgrade it, especially from the very old stable distro, you're likely to run into all sorts of brokenness. I'd suggest pulling from unstable, and even at that, expect brokenness when you upgrade.First things first :-)Is there a list of packages sorted by Section, rather than by Package, without logging onto packages.debian.org/stable/ ?
To answer your question, Synaptic allows you to sort the list by various criteria, although the "List by Section" produces different results than the sections you find at packages.debian.org/stable/. Still, it might be of use to you.
Similarly, apt-get update produced 110 files occupying 42.4MB. Is there some kind of overarching index somewhere that would help me find the sorts of packages I want, wherever they might be listed? Grepping for a particuar file name would work I guess, but what if you are looking for a tool (eg HTML editor) and don't have a name to look for?I tend to use "apt-cache search", as in "apt-cache search html | grep editor". Sometimes I'll use aptitude or dselect and use the "/" key to search, although without a pipe to search for multiple terms this doesn't typicall work as well for me as does the "apt-cache search" method.
If I understand your question, yes, "apt-get install abiword" will install all the bits necessary for abiword to work, _on a debian system_; no guarantees on a Knoppix system.Package: abiword Priority: extra Section: editors Installed-Size: 48 ... Description: Dummy package providing abiword ... Task: desktopthat if I install "abiword" it will provide a script which will go-fetch all the bits of abiword it needs to function?*******************
No; you don't need to do the grunt work; that's what apt is for. "apt-get install amaya" will install all the bits necessary for amaya to function (on a Debian system; no guarantees on a Knoppix box).Thirdly, does this: Package: amaya Priority: optional Section: web Installed-Size: 5864 ... Depends: lesstif1, libc6 (>= 2.2.3-7), xlibs (>> 4.1.0) ...mean I must check my system to ensure these dependencies exist and correct if necessary before I download/install "amaya"?*******************
Finally, where could I find the answers to such questions without bothering this list?On the main page of www.debian.org, in the left-hand pane, is a link to the mailing list archives, which are searchable. You can find a lot of info there, although your particular questions are fairly unique, and would probably be hard to search for (although I expect Paul Johnson to reply to this post and say, "No it's not; you just do blah blah blah" ;-) ).
Another, probably easier method of searching, is to search google, specifying the search to relate to debian.org sites, like so: "debian knoppix group:debian.org", although I'm no google expert, and may have the syntax or understanding wrong.
-- Kent