On Sat, 2003-10-11 at 05:34, Eric Walstad wrote: > Hi All, > > I'm a Debian newbie. Please be gentle. > > I've installed Woody stable and now find that I need to install:
> .html > hostap-utils.html > wireless-tools.html > for a project I'm working on[1]. I think these packages are only available in > Debian's Sarge/Testing, but I'm not entirely clear on how to tell that for > sure. http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?keywords=hostap-source&searchon=names&subword=1&version=all&release=all (If you have galeon, just type the package name into the debs field in the bookmarks toolbar and it will fetch that URL for you.) > When I try to dpkg --install them or apt-get install them I get errors > to the effect that I'm going to screw with other packages if I install these. > Sorry, I'm at home now and don't have the command lines I issued nor the > error messages. Some apt requests can be impossible to fulfil; you would need to show the error messages. ... > I think my problems are, and hope for help with: > - I'm confused about apt-get vs. dpkg, when to use which and what they can and > can't do. I thought that one or both would magically handle the dependencies > for me, installing what is needed for me even if it meant replacing packages > with newer, testing, versions. apt-get will install all packages needed to fulfil your request, if it is possible. The command is apt-get install package dpkg installs a single package from a deb file: dpkg -i /path/to/package_1.2.3-4_i386.deb Using dpkg may leave dependencies unmet. Apt-get uses dpkg to install packages. > - Should I up[grade|date] my entire installation to Sarge/Testing? If so, > how? The best I could find on Debian.org said that I should burn a minimal > CD and then install from the net. Burning the CD is no trouble but, when I > tried to take this approch when installing Woody, it was not clear to me how > to specify a network install and from which site[s] the deb packages should > come. I would not advise using sarge; things tend to be out of date for a long time and non-bugginess is not guaranteed. unstable gets problems fixed much more quickly, though you are at the small risk of serious problems if there are bad bugs in a package. > - Should I just install these packages in non-debian form (from sources)? If you do, put them in /usr/local so as not to conflict with files installed by packages. -- Oliver Elphick [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isle of Wight, UK http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver GPG: 1024D/3E1D0C1C: CA12 09E0 E8D5 8870 5839 932A 614D 4C34 3E1D 0C1C ======================================== "I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Psalms 40:1,2 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
