[sf-lug] debian base system (initially without X11) install progress (or lack there of!) report

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Alex Kleider (akleider at sonic.net):

> >So, have you fetched the package catalogues, yet?
> 
> I have never before heard of it but will apt install catalogues as
> soon as the installation has completed.

Er, I must hasten to clarify.  I'm not talking about a package called
'catalogues'.  I'm talking about the roster of packages available in
remote repos.  Doing 'apt-get update' fetches the various Packages[.gz] 
files from the remote repo directories, writes them into
/var/cache/apt/lists, and then merges them to create the
/var/lib/dpkg/available file.  This is the _catalogue_, the knowledge of
what packages and what versions of packages are currently available at
the remote repos you specified in /etc/apt/sources.list[.d/*] .

The point is that, on a newly installed Debian (or similar such as
*buntu) system, the local administrative software has absolutely _no_ 
idea what is available in the remote repos until that operation has
occurred.

> Are you still "an old fogie" or have you moved on to iproute2?

My fingers still know ifconfig (etc.), and every single time I use 'ip'
(etc.) it requires a trip to the man page.


> I'm on it!  (Unless you tell me you are still using  net-tools in
> which case I also will stick with the old tools.)

The LWN.net article explains why net-tools is going away, but I won't
preach necessity to cease using that suite.  Call me conflicted.

> Alex