[Glastonbury] Downgrading with apt-get

[tim hall]

The plot thickens ...

On Wednesday 24 September 2003 20:06, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:

> > I can go into details if you like, but I think I shall bother the demudi
> > and Linux Audio Users list on this one first.
>
> That's probably a good move.  I'm not really sure how far demudi
> kernels are modified. You may also want to look at the Agnula mailing
> lists since Agnula is a very slightly modified Debian intended for
> audio and multimedia work.

Yes, by DeMuDi mailing list I meant Agnula, the two have recently become one.

> > The question really, is how do I get back to where I was before I
> > started? If I comment out the relevant line in /etc/apt/sources.list will
> > dselect (apt-get) allow me to replace the programs with the earlier
> > versions? (from demudi/stable so to speak).
>
> Comment out the /etc/apt/sources.list line.  Do an apt-get update ;
> apt-get dist-upgrade.  Dselect will probably then report that "n"
> packages are obsolete / local versions. Those n will be the modified ones
> you've downloaded.

Ah brilliant, this was the kind of answer I was looking for. I'll have a go 
at this tonight.

> It may be worth living more on the bleeding edge, potentially, not least
> because the newer kernels have security fixes.  "Testing" / Sarge would
> be a hard upgrade over a dial-up, but I can potentially burn you the
> CD's and send them via Martin - that's about 11 cds.  apt-cdrom add
> would then add them to your list and you could apt-get update ; apt-get
> dist-upgrade from them.
>
> Knoppix 3.3 is also an option.  Boot it from CD and see if it has
> the required packages in it.  Knoppix tends to be Debian unstable-ish
> but, of course, can be run entirely from CD without touching your hard
> disks.

Mmm, I've been thinking about both trying Knoppix, just for configuration's 
sake more than anything else - and moving up from /stable. My recent 
experience makes me feel like moving more slowly on this one - perhaps I'll 
try /unstable first. The offer of "testing" on CD is tempting however. My 
dialup manages between 4.6 - 6.4 KB/s and I'm quite happy to run it all night 
if need be (I've done this before) - The real bugger is that my IP kicks me 
off regularly every 2 hours so I can't just leave it to get on ith it on its 
own.  Hold fire for now, but I may well take you up on this offer soon.

Thanks for the illumination.

tim hall