On Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 11:55:38AM -0800, Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> > Its not so much the removal of a package that disturbs me - it is
> > the apparent lack of warning or explanation.
>
> well, since it was removed from the official repositories in 2001:
>
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=98215
>
> it is very unlikely that you successfully installed it from official
> repositories in 2006. you obviously installed it from another
> source. so technically, it was not "Removed without notice". You have
> simply lost track of where it came from ;-P
I don't remember doing it, but it looks like I must have done, so
mea culpa on that one...
Mind you - it still looks like xlockmore and xearth disappeared from
the official packages with only an automated acknowledgement that
they are gone rather than an explanation:
http://packages.qa.debian.org/x/xlockmore/news/20061119T233918Z.html
http://packages.qa.debian.org/x/xearth/news/20060610T210838Z.html
And a were it not for those examples of things that had disappeared
from the official packages I probably would have been less quick
to jump to conclusions about xv ;)
> > It makes me rather reluctant to upgrade if some package that I have
> > come to rely on might unexpectedly disappear - perhaps unnoticed
> > until it is urgently needed...
>
> that is the problem with using packages outside the official debian
> repositories. You got caught because a non-official package you were
> using has gotten out of sync with the official libraries that support
> it. best bet is to file a bug report with the group that is supplying
> the package. or use the source, luke.
Don't want to sound like I am just complaining without offering anything
constructive, so here is the solution I have found to obtaining xv for
the current Etch system:
1. Visit http://bok.fas.harvard.edu/debian/xv/index.html and
obtain:
xv-3.10a.tar.gz
xv-3.10a-jumbo-patches-20050501.tar.gz
xv-3.10a-jumbo20050501-1.diff.gz
2. Make sure the following packages are installed
xlibs-dev, dpkg-dev, libc6-dev, libtiff4-dev, libjpeg62-dev
libpng-dev, zlib1g-dev, debhelper, libxt-dev
3. Follow the instructions on the URL as follows:
tar -xvzf xv-3.10a.tar.gz
mv xv-3.10a xv-3.10a-jumbo20050501-1
cd xv-3.10a-jumbo20050501-1
patch -p1 < ../xv-3.10a-jumbo-fix-patch-20050410.txt
patch -p1 < ../xv-3.10a-jumbo-enh-patch-20050501.txt
patch -p1 < ../xv-3.10a-jumbo20050501-1.diff
chmod 755 debian/rules
dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -b
cd ..
sudo dpkg -i xv_3.10a-jumbo20050501-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i xv-doc_3.10a-jumbo20050501-1_all.deb
It would be nice if that procedure could be bundled up into a debian
source package if my understanding is correct and the problem with xv
was that the licence prohibits distribution of modified binaries.
Perhaps it is possible - I don't know enough about debian packages
to know for sure.
The good thing about that is the entire dist-upgrade requirement
stemmed from my needing the X development libraries, and at least
this exercise has verified my ability to build X applications now :)
Now to see if I can find the other two applications that I lost in
the process of the upgrade...
Regards,
DigbyT
--
Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com
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