On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 23:00:57 -0700 Scarletdown <gsutton9503@wavecable.com> wrote: >On Tuesday 31 August 2004 22:19, Stefan O'Rear wrote: >> KDE is a dependency package. >> apt-get install kde >> apt-get remove kde >> >> Will install all of the KDE core. >> If you remove any piece of KDE, the (useless except for deps) kde >> goes along, and kdepim/kdenetwork2-dev was probably conflicted on by >> korganizer. > > So does that mean I won't be able to install korganizer then? It still > doesn't make any sense to me, since I'm just trying to install a new > version, not remove it completely. The package entitled "kde" contains no software. It exists only to make installation easier. You could install kde by installing all its parts: install kdelibs4, then install kdebase, then install kdeadmin, then install kdeutils, and so on until you're old and grey. Since that's a pain in the ass, the Debian developers created a package entitled "kde" that contains *no* software, but has dependencies on all the twelve zillion software packages that, together, make up a KDE installation. So, installing the package "kde" brings along "kdeadmin", "kdebase", "kdelibs4", etc. etc., because the "kde" packages is listed as depending on those other packages . . .and thus you have a KDE installation. But once you've got KDE installed, you can safely remove the package entitled "kde," because it doesn't contain any software itself; and while the package "kde" depends on all the KDE subcomponent packages, nothing depends on the package "kde" (nor should anything, because the package is empty). If the package "kde" depends on package "korganizer", and you're trying to install a version of package "korganizer" that conflicts with package "kde" in some way (e.g. the version of package "kde" you have installed depends on package "korganizer" with a version number less than X, and you're trying to install package "korganizer" with a version number Y > X), apt-get will want to remove package "kde." Doing so removes no software from your system. After removing the package "kde," you'd find that your KDE installation is the same as it was before. Many other pieces of software which are spread out over a large number of packages are handled the same way, e.g. package "x-window-system" and "gnome-desktop" are merely meta-packages that depend on all the actual software-containing component packages. Once all that stuff is installed, the meta-package can be removed freely. -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
Attachment:
pgpLKl9Wvyz0T.pgp
Description: PGP signature