bmcnally@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks for your reply. I'm considering using the dpkg-deb method, if not for any other reason than to learn about how it works :). Can I use dpkg-deb to download the .deb? I've tried getting the package via ftp.debian.org, but I can't seem to find where individual packages are stored. Since packages.debian.org is down I can't download them over the web. Or, can I use apt-get to download the package (without installing it)? It looks like apt-get -d install would provide this functionality, but when I try that I'm told that the package is already installed.
You might not have to download the packages at all as they could still
be in your apt-cache. Look for something like
/var/cache/apt/archives/klogd_1.4.1-17.1_i386.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/sysklogd_1.4.1-17.1_i386.deb
If you have to download the packages again I would recommend using
aptitude. It will allow you to download the packages as a normal user
and you do not have to worry about damaging your system. (You can still
use apt-get for your normal upgrades after installing aptitude if you
prefer that.) With aptitude it would go something like this:
$ mkdir temp_dir
$ cd temp_dir
$ aptitude download klogd sysklogd
$ dpkg-deb -X klogd_1.4.1-17.1_i386.deb .
$ dpkg-deb -X sysklogd_1.4.1-17.1_i386.deb .
temp_dir will then have the two .deb packages and all files and
directories which would normally have been installed in /. Now you can
compare the config files in temp_dir/etc with the ones in /etc.
Regards,
Florian