Package: dpkg Version: 1.2.14elf When one fires up dselect, puts all packages on hold, chooses one tiny little package to install --- say, jgraph --- then hits the big install button ... it takes FOREVER as a long long list of "skipping deselected package mumble ..."'s scrolls by at an agonizingly slow pace. This should not take so long. And also (unless some internal dselect extra verbosity switch is enabled) it's pretty useless verbiage.
It seems to me that installing one package using dselect should be about as pleasant and fast as installing it directly using dpkg (which I am making a point of not learning, to preserve my purity as naive debian critic).