Re: [aclug-L] Debian package management

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Greg House" <ghouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> I found it in a directory called install, but there weren't any
> instructions.  Rather then hassle with dselect, I installed it with dpkg -i
> (hope that doesn't mess things up).  Can you give me a quick tutorial on how
> to use apt?

dpkg -i is fine.

See the apt-get and sources.list manpages.

Note that apt can be told to scan multiple areas for packages.

So you may have this in /etc/apt/sources.list:


deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian frozen main contrib non-free

And then you can also add a line so that it will automatically track
Vincent's X packages, and automatically do updates as appropriate.

You can use:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

to update to the latest packages.  frozen in the slink scheduled for
release on the 9th.

Also, in dselect, you can select "apt" from access to use it.  It has
a number of advantages over the previous methods.

Basically, what it boils down to is that Debian is providing you with
a lot of power -- a LOT -- but it can take a bit of time to learn how
to use it; more time than learning how to use RedHat.

apt can, for instance, be given dozens of FTP sites to scan for
packages, and will automatically just Get It Right with regard to
dependencies, "up-to-datedness" of packages, etc.

Hope this answers some of the questions.

John
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