Missing packages (was Re: update messages)

[Digby Tarvin <digbyt@acm.org>]

Further to the loss of 'xv', 'xearth' and 'xlock' after my recent
'apt-get dist-upgrade' of my etch system....

I tried adding
deb http://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian etch main contrib non-free restricted

To my '/etc/apt/sources.list', and this does give me an 'xv' package to
try to install. However when I attempt to do so I get:
    fujitsu:/etc/apt# apt-get install xv
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree... Done
    Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
    requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
    distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
    or been moved out of Incoming.
    
    Since you only requested a single operation it is extremely likely that
    the package is simply not installable and a bug report against
    that package should be filed.
    The following information may help to resolve the situation:
    
    The following packages have unmet dependencies.
      xv: Depends: libx11-6 but it is not going to be installed
    E: Broken packages

Which looks reasonable enough if there is an unsatisfied dependency,
but
    fujitsu:/etc/apt# apt-get install libx11-6
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree... Done
    libx11-6 is already the newest version.
    0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 14 not upgraded.

Which leaves me thinking that apt-get hasn't really provided a
sufficient explanation of why the installation couldn't be
completed?

Could it be that the message is just misleading and it really meant
that libx11-6 is an incompatable version rather than simply not
installed??

If it is a library version problem, then I assume the best
solution is to find and install a debian source package for
this application?

Regards,
DigbyT
-- 
Digby R. S. Tarvin                                          digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com