On Wed, Jul 14, 2004 at 02:05:35PM -0700, listcomm@ml1.net wrote:
| Here's the transaction...
|
| floozy:~# apt-get install firestarter
[...]
| Sorry, but the following packages have unmet dependencies:
| firestarter: Depends: libbonoboui2-0 (>= 2.5.4) but it is not going to be installed
| Depends: libgnome2-0 (>= 2.6.0) but it is not going to be installed
| Depends: libgnomeui-0 (>= 2.6.0) but it is not going to be installed
| E: Sorry, broken packages
| I'm running stable Woody
[...]
| I've verified (trust me) that "apt-get" really is trying to go get
| the upgraded ("testing") version of Firestarter.
[...]
| Questions:
|
| (1) If this isn't a package install bug, what is it?
It is a missing dependency problem.
| and how do I get
| apt-get/dpkg/dselect/whoever to cough up the facts of the case?
It did! :-). (see the end of the long apt message where it talks
about unmet dependencies)
| (2) If it's actually some sort of dependency problem, how can I fix
| the dependencies that apt-get doesn't like, and (since APT generally
| doesn't seem to like the situation, and therefore there's likely to
| be something ominous afoot)
The situation arises from using apt preferences - you set 'stable' as
the default release, however you explicitly requested a 'testing'
package. apt will not, by default, with those settings upgrade the
libraries to the necessary versions. Instead it picks the 'stable'
version, by default, and then complains that it is too old.
There are a few ways to solve that.
1) temporarily change the default release
# apt-get -t testing install firestarter
(or edit /etc/apt/preferences)
2) explicitly specify which release or version you want the packages from :
# apt-get install firestarter libbonoboui2-0/testing libgnome2-0/testing libgnomeui-0/testing
3) use aptitude
Option #1 is ok. Option #2 will soon get tiresome as you iterate
through each layer of dependencies. (once you run the above command
you'll find out what newer libraries those libraries need and so on)
Aptitude's curses interface makes option #2 easier. It also gives a
clearer indication of what was wrong in the first place.
| how can I be sure that whatever I'm
| "fixing" doesn't cause more problems elsewhere?
In general you can't. You need to decide whether or not you are
willing to attempt the upgrade and see what happens. I can tell you
that the libraries in testing will need a newer libc6 than stable has,
and once you upgrade libc6 (and gnome) you will have upgraded almost
everything to testing and you won't have a 'stable' system any more.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that, unless you really want to
stick with stable. If you really don't want to move to testing, then
you will probably find it easier to find a backport of the app and all
dependent libraries or install the source package and build it
yourself.
| (I've already tried
| various things, and APT is *really* tenacious about not liking the
| idea of installing this - and I already tried an "experiment"
| in loading the "libbonoboui2-0" package which nearly ended in
| disaster; see my earlier post today)
This is probably due to the chain of dependencies and your setting
stable as the default release.
| (2) I can't believe I'm the first person to encounter this...
You're not, and the issue isn't related to firestarter.
| so why can't I find *anything* about either the "apt-get" error
| message generally
I don't know. I do know that 'apt-get' was created only as a
proof-of-concept interface for testing the "apt" system/library. It
was never intended to be used as widly as it is. Instead admins are
supposed to use nice frontends like aptitude (or others). Having said
that, I will admit to having used apt-get directly for a long time
before really giving aptitude a chance.
| (3) Is it possible that I need to do a complete upgrade to the "sarge"
| Kernel, in order to get this new "firestarter" to work,
Yeah, basically.
| and if so how do I make that determination
Trace the dependency chain and see how many packages need to be
upgraded to satisfy all deps. In this case it will (almost certainly)
require a new libc6.
| (and why doesn't "apt-get" see fit to inform me thereof... etc...)?
It is, sort of, by telling you dependencies aren't met. It isn't
automatically upgrading those packages because you told it not to (see
above).
HTH,
-D
--
One OS to rule them all, one OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Redmond, where the Shadows lie.
www: http://dman13.dyndns.org/~dman/ jabber: dman@dman13.dyndns.org
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