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Re: Using apt to install only one package



Stackpole, Chris wrote:
What is the correct syntax to ensure that when I am wanting to install the nVidia driver from Sid I limit it to *only* the package(s) I am seeking rather than everything else that apt wants me to install? I've spent the last 1/2 hour or Googling this and I can't find an answer. Perhaps my search string is incorrect, but even so if anyone is able to

assist me, that would be great.

To install a single package just use `apt-get install package`. If it is
telling you that you need to install more packages then just that one,
it is because there are dependency issues. Apt is trying to protect you
from problems by auto-installing the dependencies.
If you absolutely know that you can install just that package alone
without breaking things, then you can also download the deb package
using wget or your browser and install via dpkg with `dpkg -i
package.deb`. However, even that has fail-safes built into it so it may
not work without the dependencies either.

I hope that answers your question. If not, please tell me what I missed.

Have fun!
Chris Stackpole


Thanks for the rapid response Chris - I do appreciate that!

I don't mind installing more packages than what I had thought I needed: I am quite happy to believe that apt knows more than I do about what is best for my machine!!

I was just concerned that with my sources.list opened up to a Sid repository temporarily for the purposes of this operation - to retrieve a kernel header for the nVidia driver - that if apt downloaded and installed a whole bunch of other packages that I would end up in the sticky situation of having a mixed set of libraries. I have a lot of work that I need to get on with, so the last thing I needed was an unstable system because I'd gotten Lenny and Sid libraries all confused. Hence my reluctance to walk down that particular road without getting a clearer sense of what was going on.

If it is a case of allowing apt to do its thing, then who am I to argue with that. I would like to use the 2-6-25 kernel, but to be honest am not wedded to needing to do so, so am relaxed about proceeding cautiously.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Andy

--

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"


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