[conspire] Re: I've requested an impossible (package installation) situation

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Eric De Mund (ead-conspire at ixian.com):

> Rick,
> 
> Thanks for your help. I'm running:
> 
>     % cat /etc/debian_version
>     testing/unstable
>     % 

As you'll have noticed, you can't distinguish between -testing and
-unstable via that file alone.  ;->

> with packages:
> 
>     % cat /etc/apt/sources.list
>     ####################################################################
>     ##                               ##                               ##
>     ##                               ##    sources.list               ##
>     ##                               ##                               ##
>     ####################################################################
> 
>     # testing
>     deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
> 
>     # security
>     deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
>     deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
> 
>     # Debian Unofficial (includes JRE)
>     # Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:29:00 PDT
>     deb http://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian sarge main contrib non-free restricted
> 
>     # mplayer
>     # 2005.06.12: stable renamed to "sarge"; testing to "etch"; unstable to "sid"
>     deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ etch main

So, you're running -testing with two unofficial package sources.


> Actually, now I'm not sure how the file </etc/debian_version> has come
> to report "unstable" there, in the mix....

See above.  ;->  There really is no structural difference between
-testing and -unstable; the only difference is that -testing is the 
set of -unstable packages filtered through a quarantining script as a 
rough quality-control measure.

> ] The really interesting part is the bit that kde-amusements "is not
> ] going to be installed". Sometimes, apt-get becomes oddly stupid, and
> ] you have to guide it by the hand, e.g., "sudo apt-get install
> ] kde-amusements" before being able to succeed with the larger
> ] operation. I'd try that, first.
> 
> I failed to mention, last post, that I tried that, with no luck.

Well, either it doesn't currently exist in -testing, or apt-get's
extra stupid at the moment.  Have a look at the available packages
directly, and see if you can fetch something that "dpkg -i" likes.

_Or_, try the "-t unstable" bit.

> I similarly tried installing kdeaddons, too. If at all possible,
> shouldn't I be able to get out of this mess the same way I got into it,
> that is, by only using apt-get, rather than having to use dpkg?

Near as I can tell, you "got into it" by deciding to follow -testing.

You might want to re-read what I wrote about "dependency hairballs",
before.  Do you understand how the -testing-branch quarantining script
works?  It runs once per night on the ftp-master host, and performs
automated quality-control tests on each newly uploaded package that has
just appeared in -unstable (e.g., to make sure that it compiles without
error on multiple architectures).  If each package passes the automated
tests, then it auto-populates into -testing.  If not, then it doesn't.

The ramifications of that for KDE, GNOME, and various Mozilla-derived
programs (within the -testing branch) should be clear:  Because the
constituent packages of those hairballs may clear quarantine at
different rates, each of the hairballs may to some extent be
uninstallable (as a _whole_) at any given moment.  That is, say,
kdeaddons and kde-amusements from some brand-new KDE release might not
have cleared quarantine, while all the rest of KDE did.

In that case, you can either solve the problem on a per-package basis,
or you can make the system change I suggested to give you optional
access to -unstable-branch packages, and then ask for that branch's 
packages instead of your default branch's set.  E.g.,

$ sudo apt-get  -t unstable  install kde

Your choice.


By the way, many KDE or GNOME fans have gravitated towards Ubuntu /
Kubuntu for their desktop systems, instead of Debian proper.  The Ubuntu
project have a somewhat more stabilised approach to packages from the
cutting edge.