Re: Gnome 2.10 going in to etch today

From: Byron Hillis (the.metric_at_gmail.com)
Date: 09/16/05

  • Next message: Debian User Leonard Chatagnier: "Re: SBC DIALUP" 
    Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 09:16:06 +1000
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org

    On 14/09/05, Katipo <Katipo@westnet.com.au> wrote:
    > Well, I don't know if he's trolling.
    > He comes across as someone who uses one app. and therefore nothing else
    > is any good.
    >
    > I've used aptitude for a couple of years now, on dial-up, go to bed on
    > the upgrade, wake up in the morning, and everything's done.
    > Solid as a rock, running an unstable, part-gnome install, nothing broken.
    >
    > Must be something wrong with me.
    >

    That's what it seems like. Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but
    I think the problem here comes from the way that aptitude marks things
    as installed automatically (with the A symbol in interactive mode) when
    something is pulled in as a dependency. When you remove the original
    program, all it's dependencies that were automatically installed are
    removed as well. It's a way of minimising the cruft left on a system.

    Therefore if you install g-d-e and it pulls in everything for your GNOME
    desktop environment, then ALL the packages that it does pull in will be
    marked as Automatic. Therefore, if through a dependency problem, i.e.
    sound-juicer, the g-d-e cannot be properly upgraded, then if you
    remove g-d-e, all the GNOME desktop will be removed because
    aptitude thinks that they were only installed to satisfy the dependency.
    Thus you get a mess.

    So aptitude does work, it's just about making it work for you. Apt-get
    doesn't have this problem because if you install a package that pulls
    in dependencies, then remove the package, it doesn't remove the
    dependencies as well. So this is safer, but not ideal in terms of system
    management.

    Therefore, it would seem that the only option (and it makes sense if
    you think about it) is to mark those packages that you use as MANUALLY
    installed (use
    'm' in interactive mode). If you do that, then you have nothing to
    worry about. Upgrades will work properly and all will be well. Sure,
    its a little bit more effort
    from the start, but eventually it is more practical, as you don't end up with
    dependencies that you don't need.

    The biggest problem with aptitude is not the software, but the way that it
    is understood to work. It is not just a front-end to apt-get. It does
    more stuff,
    and requires a slightly different mind-set. But once that is understood (which
    I hope I've gone some way in helping), aptitude does make sense, and will
    do what you want it to.

    Byron

    DISCLAIMER: What I said is just what I think and it works for me. Sometimes
    bad stuff happens.

  • Next message: Debian User Leonard Chatagnier: "Re: SBC DIALUP"

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