Re: Noob question - best way to install software

["Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@oplink.net>]

* georgepwhite@comcast.net <georgepwhite@comcast.net> [070414 16:28]:
> I've been using Debian for about a month, and just upgraded to Etch.
... 
> I am wondering about the best way to install software.  I have used
> the "apt-get" method, which is pretty simple, and have also
> downloaded and compiled from source "tarballs" which is a little
> more complicated but doesn't seem to be a big deal.  Are there
> significant advantages and disadvantages to these methods, besides
> just convenience?  I worry about dependencies, and maybe messing
> stuff up with "apt-get update."

The Debian package manager was created because there is need for a
package manager.  You would be a fool not to use it.

However, there occasionally is need for an application which has not
been packaged for Debian, and Debian has provision for installing such
packages.  

Unless you are a guru or a masochist, immediately after using tasksel
to install a desktop, you should install synaptic, if it has not
already been installed by tasksel.  Then use synaptic exclusively for
installing Debian packages from Debian repositories.  

Synaptic also was created in response to a need.  It is stable and
reliable.  I have been using it exclusively for at least a year,
during which I have not been plagued with problems of the sort
reported almost daily by those who directly execute the lower-level
package tools apt-get and aptitude.