[Sussex] The first of the Debian based confusion(s)

[Thomas Adam]

On Sat, Apr 30, 2005 at 06:38:32PM -0400, John D. wrote:
> So, having tried to follow the instructions that Thomas posted, I've

Ah, that's probably where you went wrong, John... :)

> tried to mod the apt-sources.list, without much luck.

How so?

> # Testing deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian testing main contrib
> non-free deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian-non-US testing/non-US
> main contrib non-free
>
> # Testing Sources 
> #deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian testing main contrib non-free 
> #deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib
> non-free

They look OK - but I can't test them.

> or does it need to have a security source as well? or maybe is it just
> like the top part i.e. just a deb listing, or does it need a deb-src
> listing as well?

deb-src is useful when one uses a command such as:  "apt-get source
<package>".  A deb-src line is also needed for certain incantations of
"apt-cache" commands.  You should really have them.

And since Sarge has yet to go Stable, it won't have any security
releases, so adding them will do nothing and throw a 404 error.

> do I need to have something for stable, unstable and testing to get
> the testing? or just a testing listing ??

Just a testing listing will do.

> Could someone point me in the right direction please ???

Edit and save the file, and carry on with the instructions

> p.s. Another anomally, is that "it" won't allow me to log in as root
> graphically - I can su and su- but not graphically. Any ideas why or
> where I'd look to change it ?

http://www.hantslug.org.uk/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxHints/PseudoRoot

Essentially as you're still on Knoppix:

sudo <graphical_program>

should suffice, although I'd question its usage.

-- Thomas Adam

--  
"One of us is a cigar stand, and one of us is a lovely blue incandescent
guillotine" -- Stephen Malkmus, "Type Slowly" from "Brighten The Corners"