-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Debian libc5 to libc6 Mini-HOWTO Scott K. Ellis, [EMAIL PROTECTED] v1.6, August 17, 1997
Recent Changes: o Moved ldso above libc6, incase they have an ancient ldso. o Raised versions required for bash and libreadline(g)2 to the official maintainer versions to avoid possible version mismatch breakage. o Added a note saying that allowing dselect to upgrade the listed packages might result in an unbootable system. o Added ncurses3.0 to list of packages after realizing that libreadline2 depended on it. This may not be necessary, as everyone should already have ncurses3.0 installed. 1. Introduction The Debian project is currently in the process of putting together the next release of the Debian system. This version will utilize the new libc6, a replacement for the prior libc5 which includes many enhancements and brings the Linux C library back into sync with the GNU project. We are doing this in a way to allow you to continue to utilize your older software by providing development and operating environments for both C libraries. However, all packages in the new release will be linked with the new C library. This has made it slightly more difficult to install packages from the unstable branch of our development tree into a working system. There is a slight possibility of making your system unbootable in the process, this guide is intended to help you avoid such problems. 2. Requirements 2.1. Minimum Requirements The minimum list of packages to install to be able to run unstable- branch packages is below. Install these packages one at a time in exactly the order listed. When versions are mentioned, that is a minimum suggested version, any later version should also be acceptable. IMPORTANT: If you use dselect to do the initial upgrade to these packages, there is a very good possibility of breaking bash and therefore making your system unusable. o ldso_1.9.5-1 o libc6_2.0.4-1 o ncurses3.0_1.9.9e-2 o ncurses3.4_1.9.9g-3 o libreadline2_2.1-3 o libreadlineg2_2.1-3 o bash_2.01-1 2.2. Other Suggested Packages These packages are not absolutely essential for the functioning of the packages in unstable, but are still very useful. The new dpkg-dev may be necessary for unpacking source archives from unstable, and the new dpkg-ftp is needed if you wish to use the ftp method of dselect to upgrade your system to the unstable distribution. o libg++272_2.7.2.5-2 o dpkg_1.4.0.19 o dpkg-dev_1.4.0.19 o dpkg-ftp_1.4.9 3. Development If you wish to do libc6 development, you should first purge all the '-dev' packages on your system, the new development system will use packages with the suffix '-dev' for libc6 development and '-altdev' for libc5 development. You will wish to install the latest libc5 package, and altgcc if you wish continue to do libc5 development as well. Some libraries haven't been recompiled for the new libc6 yet, check that all your vital libraries are available before upgrading. Linking libc5-based libraries with libc6-based programs will have unpredictable results. 4. Concerns Note also that both the man-db and the libc6-dev packages currently include /usr/bin/gencat. The version of gencat in libc6-dev has been reported to cause segfault problems with man-db, you may wish to reinstall man-db after libc6-dev if you experience these problems. 5. Disclaimer As always, this document comes with NO WARRANTY. These comments are based on my personal experience and experimentation. While this worked for me off a freshly installed v1.3.1 system, you mileage may vary. Please send any comments or corrections to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - -- | You are never given a wish without also Scott K. Ellis | being given the power to make it true. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | You may have to work for it, however. | -- Illusions -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3a Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBM/csw6Ck2fENdzpVAQFOjwP9FCB2X967RwVrt6sTis3BFJpNN36o9X+v SLT56Cp179FiuM2p+DIRzUxbZEQoLZJMvMe842kpL16hd3iVGcxkG5hyyiNWiZeU CvVYKRqmi3sSP7+MJBCPDxNK6gCGvP0ER5zR4x6o/eOx/6TefKpOBIJA+cNuomi8 gv+TSk/7tvU= =6uh0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .