-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Mon, Jan 26, 2004 at 06:12:32PM -0800, David Rothenberger wrote: > I obviously want to track stable (since this server needs to be secure), > but there are a few packages that I want from testing or unstable. How to > do this?
Short answer: You don't. Long answer: Mixing stable with testing is usually a bad idea once testing starts having newer libraries than stable (as is the case most for most of testing's lifepsan). Mixing with unstable is pretty much a no-no with stable. The way to get around this is to go check out http://www.backports.org/ to find backports (packages compiled for the older versions). If you can't find it there, look for sources compiled for stable on http://www.apt-get.org/ for the packages you want. If all else fails, upgrade to testing or unstable as soon as your comfortable with Debian. > But I don't understand how this will interact with APT. That is, suppose > I get the sources, compile, and install the resulting binary package. > What happens when the package is updated in testing/unstable? Will > apt-get or dselect get me the updated _source_ package? The binary > package? Or will I have to manually track the package myself. apt will get the newest version available unless you use apt pinning (if you don't know exactly how Debian dependencies work, this is not the solution you are working for and it *will* burn you badly sooner or later (and probably sooner, rather than later)); or if you use aptitude to mark a package as held (it will stick to that version instead of moving to something newer, you're probably doing something wrong if you have to mark anything held if you're not using stable). > Similarly, what happens if it's updated in stable? Will my package from > testing/unstable be replaced? Only if the version number is greater. I know there's something, probably in the Developers section, on http://debian.org/ that explains the Debian versioning policy. This should also give you a pretty good idea how apt and dpkg interpret version numbers. > Do I need to pin the package in my apt configuration? No. When you're pinning, you're playing around with how apt does dependency and version handling. This is a Bad Thing unless you know what you're doing and have some clue as to what the ramifications are for your system. > Finally, should I delete the binary package I built once it's installed or > should I stash it somewhere? Stash it. I would run apt-get autoclean every once in a while to delete old versions of the package archives laying around (you'll keep the .debs for the installed packages with autoclean, you'll keep none of them if you use clean instead). - -- .''`. Paul Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> : :' : `. `'` proud Debian admin and user `- Debian - when you have better things to do than fix a system -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAFd6aUzgNqloQMwcRAkavAKC35UB3xs8W+2Ffx6OvzzqBoyBL2ACeN2Zf SwswDQ6wdL6i+10qAfyp5zc= =4VuA -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
