Rob Benton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I'm trying to install the xfree86 packages with the /opt directory as > root. I've tried using --instdir but the install fails on the > pre/postinst scripts. Is there an easy way to do this without having to > build my own package?
No. In general, dpkg's options to "change the root" are useful if you have a chroot environment, or if you somehow otherwise have a complete working system installed somewhere other than / (e.g., you're booted off of a rescue CD and your hard disk is mounted on /target or something). The best you could do with this approach is install X stuff in /opt/usr/X11R6/..., and even that wouldn't work because the X server will do things like look for its configuration file in /etc/X11 (and has, in the Debian build, never heard of /opt). As far as X goes, IMHO the easiest way to get an XFree86 4.3 X server (because that's what you're really after, right?) is to download the Xxserv.tgz and Xmod.tgz binary tarballs from xfree86.org, unpack them somewhere like /usr/local, and repoint the /etc/X11/X symlink to point to them. There are also various backports, plus the ~official Debian experimental packages; search the list archives for details. Debian in general "doesn't believe in /opt", and relocatable binaries are a hard problem that's not real high on the dpkg feature list. -- David Maze [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/ "Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal." -- Abra Mitchell -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]