[Sussex] "pre-depend" error upgrading to Woody

[Thomas Adam]

 --- Gavin Stevens <starshine at gavmusic.uklinux.net> wrote: 

> Feeling somewhat ill-prepared for upgrading to Woody as a result of the 
> error I encountered, I decided to do some reading & increase my
> knowledge a 
> little more & get better prepared in the process.
> 
> I now have a good few pages of notes, mostly a mix of the Debian docs
> for 
> upgrading from a previous version & the most helpful responses of Steve
> & 
> Thomas.

Excellent :)
 
> My plan is (& thoughts are welcome on this) to upgrade using the CDs,
> then 
> activate the URLs afterwards & get security updates etc. My thinking is 
> that this will be more manageable from a time point of view (ie - I
> won't 
> suddenly find myself with a lengthy net session when I don't expect it
> or 
> can't do it at that time).

You could do it that way, but you'll want to keep syncing yourself with
the security updates. Most people just install off the net since it is
easier and saves you having to burn many ISOs.

> One further question, if I may: I take heed of Steve & Thomas's warning
> on 
> dselect & I am planning on using apt-get. However, the Debian docs
> strongly 
> urge using dselect for upgrading in preference to apt-get. I do not
> doubt 
> the words of Steve & Thomas, but I would be interested to know why
> dselect 
> is so bad for upgrading - I presume the warnings are based on bitter 
> experience. What does it do wrong?

It's not that it is bad, just a real horrible interface and features that
are now deprecated. In either case, apt-get (and aptitude, which will be
dselect's replacement hopefully) do a far better job.

Honestly, wherever it says about using dselect, don't. Essentially the
steps you'll want are:

1. Boot from CD1 of Woody.
2. Install base system.

(when, during the installation it asks about using dselect, say no.)

3. You might want to use "tasksel", but I hate this since the option for
X-window installs both KDE *and* GNOME which is a real PITA. Essentially,
you can ignore tasksel.

4. I think this is before, but somewhere in the installation you'll be
prompted to insert all of your CDs (should you make them), so make sure
you do that.

5. When everything is installed:

apt-get install <window manager>

where: "<window manager>" is the one you want, like: fvwm, and that'll
install all the X stuff along with it.

6. If you want to go to using security.debian.org for updates and the
like, as root:

vi /etc/apt/sources.list

comment out (append a # at the start of the line) all the lines that start
with: deb and deb-src. Save the file. Then run:

apt-setup

and follow the instructions on-screen for using http (mirror.ac.uk is your
best bet) and security updates.

Job done.

:)

-- Thomas Adam

=====
"The Linux Weekend Mechanic" -- http://linuxgazette.net
"TAG Editor"                 -- http://linuxgazette.net

"<shrug> We'll just save up your sins, Thomas, and punish 
you for all of them at once when you get better. The 
experience will probably kill you. :)"

 -- Benjamin A. Okopnik (Linux Gazette Technical Editor)


	
	
		
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