[CLUE-Tech] Building Kernel w/Debian

[Randy Arabie]

On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, Matt Gushee wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 13, 2002 at 11:28:30AM -0600, Matt Gushee wrote:
> > On Sun, Oct 13, 2002 at 09:56:38AM -0600, Randy Arabie wrote:
> > > 
> > > Sorry, but the following packages have unmet dependencies:
> > >   libc6-dev: Depends: libc6 (= 2.2.5-6) but 2.2.5-11.2 is to be installed
> > > E: Sorry, broken packages
> > > 
> > > I have libc6 version 2.2.5-11.2 installed, but libc6 depends on 2.2.5-6.  So what 
> > > to do?
> > 
> > How did you manage to get libc6-2.2.5-11.2? Did you deliberately install
> > it for some reason? According to the package database at www.debian.org,
> > 2.2.5-6 is the current version for Woody (stable), and 2.2.5-14.3 and
> > 2.2.5-15, respectively, are the current versions for testing and
> > unstable.
> 
> Then again, maybe knowing why you have that version installed doesn't
> really help you solve the problem--except that if you got it from
> apt-get, maybe you should try a different archive (of course, that's
> sheer speculation: I have never used apt-get, because I just don't trust
> 'black box' installers, not even Debian's; I use dselect).

'black box' installers?  Please enlighten me.

I guess my whole understanding of the debain package system is flawed.

1.	apt-get is one of many programs called by dselect.  The advantage of using 
	dselect is that it gives you a list of the packages available, based on how 
	you have configured apt (i.e. stable, testing, non-free, non-US, etc...).  
	You do not need to know the name of the package, just pick them off the list.
2.	apt-get uses sites identified in the /etc/apt/sources.list file.  This file
	is also where you identify which of three branches (stable, testing, unstable)
	you want your packages to come from.  You can call apt-get directly, request 
	an 'action' and provide the package name, and it will perform that action.
	For instance: root# apt-get install mozilla
	apt-get would got to a site in your sources.list file, fetch mozilla, and 
	install and configure it for you.
3.	apt-spy is a program that generates your /etc/apt/sources.list file.  Quoted 
	from the apt-spy manpage, "apt-spy  is  a  program  that  downloads  from  the
	Debian ftpsite (ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/README.mirrors.html) a list of 
	current Debian mirrors, parses that list and tests each site for  latency  and
	bandwidth.   It  then  chooses  the  top  three  sites  and  writes an 
	/etc/apt/sources.list based on this.

I know for certain that I have used only mirrors in lists from Debain.  And, based on 
a recommendation from Tim and Dave, I gave apt-spy a try the other night.  So, that is 
where my choice of mirrors have come from...Debian's own list of mirrors.  IF I have
said I only want 'STABLE', how could I have libcv6-2.2.5-11.2?  Has someone put it in 
their stable tree on thier "mirror"....then that wouldn't be a mirror, would it?

Debian's tight management of the package system is the primary reason I decided to 
try it.  I thought 'STABLE' means 'STABLE', and if you got 'STABLE' from a debian 
mirror, then that's what you got.  I seem to have managed to get some obscure version
of a fundamental library that isn't even identified on the official list of packages
for 'STABLE', 'TESTING', or even 'UNSTABLE'.

> But anyway, if you've done enough with the system to be confident that
> having that version of libc6 isn't breaking anything, probably the
> simplest solution is to download and manually install the matching
> libc6-dev package. If you point your ftp client at a major archive, and
> go to /debian/pool/main/g/glibc, you should find it there.

I'm not.  I only got my base installed on Thursday night.  And I've spent most of my
free time since then installing the rest.  Until I tried to rebuild my kernel with 
SMP support this morning I was unaware of any problems.  My goal is to build a very
low maintenance workstation.

> On the other hand, having that odd version might screw up your package
> dependency info. A while back I installed some unofficial packages of
> XFree86-4.0 for Potato (XF86-4.x wasn't part of the main distro until
> Woody), and next time I opened up dselect, *all other packages* on my
> system were tagged "Obsolete"--so I couldn't use dselect any more.

Yes.  I'm quite concerned with having something so fundamental as libc6 shagged. 
The system seems to be running fine, but I'm mostly working in xterms and have 
not really started using it.  I'm not sure how to tell if everything is marked 
"Obsolete" in dselect.  Is that what the 'O' is in the EIOM column of dselect?  If
so, then the answer is, "No, having libc6-2.2.5-11.2 has not caused everything to 
be tagged obsolete."

> But if that were going to happen to you, it probably already has, and
> installing libc6-dev_2.2.5-11.2 won't make it any worse.

This may be my choice.  I don't seem to have many options.  It is NOT listed in 
dselect.  Only the 2.2.5-6 version is.  I hope I can find it somewhere.
 
> Or you could try downgrading libc6 to version 2.2.5-6. Personally, I
> wouldn't be quite brave enough to try that unless I could afford to lose
> the whole install anyway.

I don't want to do this, if at all possible.
-- 
Allons Rouler!
        
Randy