Re: Source of Debian wisdom
On Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 02:10:27PM -0400, Mark Neidorff wrote:
>
> Here's an example of what this message is about:
> I've been reading the debian-user list for a bit, and I've noticed that
> suggestions given are to use the apt-* suite or aptitude to managing
> packages. While setting things up (and installing packages) I came across
> synaptic in the KDE menus. Tried it, and liked using it. So now I'm
> wondering according to Debian Wisdom (no disrespect intended to anyonne)
> which is the preferred way of installing software?
>
> More generally, is there a document/web page that explains what are the
> preferred packages and what is the "Debian Way" of doing things.
The release notes state that aptitude is the preferred package
management tool since it takes care of automatically installed pacakges
(those installed only to meet dependancies) and removes them when
nothing else needs them. You can over-ride Automatic by marking them as
manual. Note that many of the horror stories about aptitude involved
people using it as a CLI replacement for apt-get instead of using its
curses interface.
For reading:
Release notes,
debian policy (not all, unless you're making packages),
the fhs that comes with the policy
debian-reference (a bit dated but still a must-read).
aptitude-doc
All but the release notes are available as debian packages.
As for 'preferred' packages, its all up to you. However, some packages
are marked as 'base', 'required', 'important', 'standard', etc.
Ensure that you have all the base and required ones. You can search
with aptitude.
The other advice is to go slow. Once you have your base system
functional, just add one function at a time. E.g. get X working as you
want, and then add a browser as a separate project.
Doug.
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