Hi Kent- Thanks for your reply.
Kent West wrote: > > You'll need to run "aptitude update" prior to running "aptitude -f > --with-recommends dist-upgrade". > The first step goes out and gets the list of available packages; the > next step goes and gets, not the list, but the actual packages. I actually did do that in each case. I left that out thinking that it went without saying that I did it but I guess not... ;-) > > >>I'm not quite sure what to make of the fact that initially, these >>instructions say to use "sarge" and then later, go on to say use >>"stable." These seem contradictory to me but I'm sure it's because I'm >>a newbie to Debian. >> >> > > I'm unfamiliar with the instructions, but I'm confident it's a typo. If > you want to pull from Sarge, you'll need Sarge in your sources.list. Ok. If it's a typo then it makes more sense. > > >>Next ensure that the APT source entries (in /etc/apt/sources.list) refer >>to the 'stable' distribution and do not refer to it by its codename >>(e.g. woody). >> >> > > Again, this should not be "stable", but rather "sarge" (or "testing" as > recommended here, but either should work until the distributions change > states). Ok. I'll change that. > > >>First aptitude needs to fetch a list of new and updated packages for the >>new release. This is done by executing: >> >> aptitude update >> >>Once aptitude has information on all the available packages, the system >>is almost ready to be fully upgraded. >> >> aptitude -f --with-recommends dist-upgrade >> >>================= >> >>But when I execute "aptitude update" with "sarge" in my >>/etc/apt/sources.list file, I see this: >> >>================= >>7300:~# aptitude update >>Reading Package Lists... Done >>Building Dependency Tree >>Reading extended state information... Done >>W: Couldn't stat source package list http://debian.lcs.mit.edu >>sarge/main Packages >>(/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_sarge_main_binary-powerpc_Packages) >>- stat (2 No such file or directory) >>W: Couldn't stat source package list http://debian.lcs.mit.edu >>sarge/non-free Packages >>(/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_sarge_non-free_binary-powerpc_Packages) >>- stat (2 No such file or directory) >>W: Couldn't stat source package list http://debian.lcs.mit.edu >>sarge/contrib Packages >>(/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_sarge_contrib_binary-powerpc_Packages) >>- stat (2 No such file or directory) >>W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org >>sarge/non-US/main Packages >>(/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_debian-non-US_dists_sarge_non-US_main_binary-powerpc_Packages) >>- stat (2 No such file or directory) >>W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org >>sarge/non-US/contrib Packages >>(/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_debian-non-US_dists_sarge_non-US_contrib_binary-powerpc_Packages) >>- stat (2 No such file or directory) >>W: Couldn't stat source package list http://non-us.debian.org >>sarge/non-US/non-free Packages >>(/var/lib/apt/lists/non-us.debian.org_debian-non-US_dists_sarge_non-US_non-free_binary-powerpc_Packages) >>- stat (2 No such file or directory) >>W: You may want to update the package lists to correct these missing files >>================= >> >> >> > > Ah; this means that something is wrong in the sources.list file. > (I hate the syntax in that file. I've been using Debian for about 5 > years now, and I _still_ don't understand the syntax of that file. It's > very picky about when and where you use spaces or / marks, etc.) Thanks for mentioning this. If you've been using Debian for 5 years and are still having problems with this file then I feel better about not being able to figure this out on my own... > > Unless you want the source files, you can comment out the "deb-src" > lines to make your file less complex. Done. > > It may be that your mirror does not have the Sarge files; you might want > to point do a different mirror. The mirror seems to have sarge files. When I browse it with a web browser, I do see sarge and testing directories and content beneath them. > > What I would do is return the "sources.list" file to its original form, > and run "aptitide update". If the system updates properly, go back into > sources.list and comment all but one line. Then change that one line so > that instead of "stable" it reads "sarge", and try running the update > again. If it fails, you can suspect the mirror of not having sarge > files, or at least of not having the expected file structure. You might > try "testing" instead of "sarge", or even "sid" or "unstable" for > cutting-edge software. > My sources.list file now reads: 7300:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list|grep -v ^\# deb http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian/ sarge main non-free contrib When I update: 7300:~# aptitude update Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree Reading extended state information... Done W: Couldn't stat source package list http://debian.lcs.mit.edu sarge/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_sarge_main_binary-powerpc_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory) W: Couldn't stat source package list http://debian.lcs.mit.edu sarge/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_sarge_non-free_binary-powerpc_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory) W: Couldn't stat source package list http://debian.lcs.mit.edu sarge/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_sarge_contrib_binary-powerpc_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory) W: You may want to update the package lists to correct these missing files Based on the error message, I'm missing files that aptitude expects to find in the /var/lib/apt/lists/ directory tree. I don't know what these files are or how to get them there. Is the error message misleading me? I get the same result when the sources.list file reads: 7300:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list|grep -v ^\# deb http://debian.lcs.mit.edu/debian/ testing main non-free contrib > Another idea that just came to me: You indicate that your original > sources.list file was pulling from CDs; now you're telling it to pull > from the Internet. You are attached to the Internet, yes? > Yes, this box does have an internet connection, but good point. In fact, browsing just now to verify my previous check of the mirror led me to a work-around for this problem. I noticed the Packages and Packages.gz files in those directories on the mirror, downloaded the .gz versions, unzipped them, named them according to the apparent naming scheme in /var/lib/apt/lists, and with those files present, aptitude update did what I expected it to do and dist-upgrade now seems to be chugging away. Thanks again for your reply, Kent. To the developers, I'm not sure why this happened. I would have thought that aptitude would have gone out and gotten those Packages files by itself. Instead, I had to get them by hand and put them in place and with that done, aptitude seems to be doing what I would expect. That may be a bug, but I really don't know. -Kevin -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
