On 19 Dec 2002, 12:52:18, Tony Crawford wrote: > I have a woody notebook and put XFree86 4.2.0 on it from the > tarballs (because of better hdw support than in X v3). Now I > want to try out some window managers, but apt-get wants to > install xfree86-common every time I ask it for an X app.
Tony, I'm not an expert, but I think you went about this in a "non-Debian" way, when a suitable Debain way exists. Since X 4.2 is part of the testing distribution, I believe that the right thing to do would have been to put the following in /etc/apt/apt.conf: APT::Default-Release "stable"; and add lines to /etc/apt/sources.list that point to testing, as well as to stable, like this: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib # entry for testing distribution for installing from testing deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib and then run: apt-get update and then install X 4.2 via apt-get -t testing install xserver-xfree86 That would install the 4.2 version of X from the testing distribution. > - What packages do I need to mark as "hold" (or better?) to save > the XFree86 v4 installation from getting damaged? I don't know. I do know, although I've never used it, that there is a way to make a .deb out of a tarball install, and then use dpkg -i tarballpackage.deb to install it, so that it's in the dpkg/dselect/apt database and they won't try and crush it with later installs of other packages. > - Where would I have looked to find this out myself if I were a > smarter user? The apt HowTo, the Debian Reference, and lurking on this list . . . > - What's the best way to mark those packages so that I can > continue life with apt-get? I would go ahead and, if possible, uninstall your self-install of X, or barring that, just go ahead and do an apt-get install xserver-xfree86. Actually, you might want to use tasksel for this, so that you get all the fonts and other things that go along with it, but aren't actual dependencies, and then install X from testing. madmac > > All kinds of anticipatory gratitude, > > Tony > > > -- Doug MacFarlane [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
