Stan, Here's a cut-and-paste-and-slightly-edited version of what I found about almost the same question I asked on this reflector a week or two ago (see thread "RE: cproto.deb for potato not available?"):
Scheme using newer version of apt-get than you probably have: It seems the /etc/apt/preferences file is a feature not yet in the stable release of apt-get (version 0.3.19). I found some information about the preferences file in a how-to document based on version 0.5.3 (chapter 3 of http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/), although I was still a little unclear about how to selectively upgrade a package using this feature. My guess is to use the example in the document for how to downgrade all packages to the stable release versions, then insert a specific entry for the latest version of, in my case, cproto. This is what I did to grab the cproto package from the unstable distribution (a little lower-level, but not too bad once in awhile). Hopefully the upgraded package you'll see in #3 won't be a package that will break other things it depends on if you upgrade it. 1. Added following line to sources.list: deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free 2. apt-get -s update The -s (=--dry_run) above seemed to have no effect because the cproto package *was* found in the next step (without update it is not found). 3. apt-get -s install cproto This showed me that apt-get would not upgrade or install any new packages except for cproto. 4. apt-get install cproto This installed the new package. 5. Commented out the line added in #1 I did this so that the next 'apt-get upgrade' won't upgrade me to the unstable release of all the packages I have installed. -Kris -----Original Message----- From: Stan Brown [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 1:16 PM To: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: Is it possible to install a few testing packages on a stable machine? I'm trying to get abcde to work. Turns out that the version I have (from progen) is broken. The developers of this package say the version in testing is fine. Probelm is it depends on one more package from testing. Is there a way I can get this to work? If so, how? -- Stan Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] 843-745-3154 Charleston SC. -- Windows 98: n. useless extension to a minor patch release for 32-bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16-bit patch to an 8-bit operating system originally coded for a 4-bit microprocessor, written by a 2-bit company that can't stand for 1 bit of competition. - (c) 2000 Stan Brown. Redistribution via the Microsoft Network is prohibited. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]