On Tue, Jan 18, 2000 at 03:01:58AM -0800, Guyren G Howe wrote: > How do I get out of package hell? > > In trying to install Enlightenment on my Debian/Corel machine, I've got > myself trapped in all sorts of loops where apt-get, dselect and dpkg all > refuse to install any of the things I need because they can't install other > things that those things depend on. > > I've somehow managed to get my X Server uninstalled, and I can't reinstall > it. I get several screens of errors about things that it can't install, and > I can't find any way of piping this output to less or anything so I can see > all the errors. The ones I can see say, for example, that things can't be > installed because they depend on xfree86-common, which it doesn't get up to > installing, because of these errors that come up first. > > I've tried everything I can think of. Just now, for example, I told dselect > to remove everything. Then I told it to install xfree86-common. It complains > it can't because "cannot open help file > '/usr/share/doc/xfree-86common/.dhelp'" > > I've tried apt-get update followed by apt-get upgrade, but I just get the > same errors. > > I thought this whole package thing was supposed to make this stuff easier. > This makes windows look like something well organised. > > Heeeelp! > >
First, try "dselect update ; apt-get -f -y dist-upgrade". It will cause
hell and remove and install a bunch of packages, but it might solve your
dependency problems enough to use dselect again.
If you're stuck in a mutual dependency loop (I've gotten it with
kernel-image and alsa-modules packages), figure out what everything needs,
make sure you're right, and dpkg --force-depends -i the packages.
But do this with small groups of packages at a time.
--
"If you continue running Windows, your system may become unstable."
-- Windows 95 BSOD
Dwayne C. Litzenberger - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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