i was fully prepared to whine about being in the dark on "how the hell can you find the package to download when you just know about one missing file?"
well, i solved it myself, so thought i'd share the process... (i'll get to whine later about something else, i'm sure.) i'd changed some stuff in the config files for apache, so i wanted to reload the settings: # apachectl graceful it whined about troubles, and suggested i try: # apachectl configtest Syntax error on line 100 of /etc/apache/httpd.conf: Cannot load /usr/lib/apache/1.3/mod_perl.so into server: /usr/lib/apache/1.3/mod_perl.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory WHAT? modperl is gone? how can apache even RUN without modperl? aaugh! that's like a face without a skull! or a skull without a brain! or a brain without a mind! or a mind without a purpose! so i tried # apt-get --reinstall install modperl # apt-get --reinstall install mod_perl # apt-get --reinstall install mod-perl but it didn't find any of those. (i was shooting in the dark, can you tell?) AHA. here's how you find out what the bloomin' package names are... # dpkg -S modperl dpkg: *modperl* not found. damn. seemed reasonable, but there are other permutations possible. here i try "mod-perl" with a hyphen: # dpkg -S mod-perl libapache-mod-perl: /usr/share/doc/libapache-mod-perl/README.gz libapache-mod-perl: /usr/share/doc/libapache-mod-perl/examples/CVS/Template [snip] the mother lode! let's try one more permutation, just for giggles--this time "mod_perl" with an underscore: # dpkg -S mod_perl libapache-mod-perl: /usr/share/man/man3/cgi_to_mod_perl.3pm.gz libapache-mod-perl: /usr/lib/perl5/5.005/i386-linux/mod_perl_method_handlers.pod libapache-mod-perl: /usr/lib/perl5/5.005/i386-linux/mod_perl.pod [snip] the father lode! so now i know to ask for "libapache-mod-perl"... # apt-get install libapache-mod-perl Reading Package Lists... Done Building Dependency Tree... Done The following extra packages will be installed: libhtml-parser-perl libmime-base64-perl liburi-perl libwww-perl The following NEW packages will be installed: libapache-mod-perl libhtml-parser-perl libmime-base64-perl liburi-perl libwww-perl 0 packages upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0B/1056kB of archives. After unpacking 2971kB will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y Selecting previously deselected package libmime-base64-perl. (Reading database ... 36058 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libmime-base64-perl (from .../libmime-base64-perl_2.11-2_i386.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package liburi-perl. Unpacking liburi-perl (from .../liburi-perl_1.04-2_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libhtml-parser-perl. Unpacking libhtml-parser-perl (from .../libhtml-parser-perl_3.02-3_i386.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libwww-perl. Unpacking libwww-perl (from .../libwww-perl_5.47-1_all.deb) ... Selecting previously deselected package libapache-mod-perl. Unpacking libapache-mod-perl (from .../libapache-mod-perl_1.21.20000309-1_i386.deb) ... Setting up libmime-base64-perl (2.11-2) ... Setting up liburi-perl (1.04-2) ... Setting up libhtml-parser-perl (3.02-3) ... Setting up libwww-perl (5.47-1) ... Setting up libapache-mod-perl (1.21.20000309-1) ... so it also set-up other items that i needed, as well (just like it says in the docs!) all of which i'd already downloaded. i know that no downloading was necessary because it confirms that you really wanna download before doing so, and it said Need to get 0B/1056kB of archives. After unpacking 2971kB will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y so i confirmed that i wanted to install, though no downloading was needed. very cool. that's how i got past the hurdle of missing crucial components. -- now i just gotta figure out where the apache settings are that are keeping all my cgi's from working.