[ILUG] Linux Frustration

[Colm Buckley]

On Fri 28 Sep 2001 12:45, you wrote:

> [... dependency hell ...]
>
> PS - Yes I know Red Hat 6.1 is now "old", etc. but I don't have the
> time now to start setting up a 7.1 machine.

This is indeed a frustrating example, and it affects any Linux
distribution which doesn't deal properly with dependencies.  Red Hat
Linux, although the RPM system and front end is quite nice, hasn't
really "thought through" the dependency issues which may arise.  The
only system I know of which *does* deal *properly* with dependencies
is Debian's "apt" system.  It really is a *massive* improvement on
something like RPM (and, for those who "tried and failed", even on the
Debian management system of a year ago).

To take your example (this is from my Debian workstation, just now):


ogma:root (11) # apt-get install etherape
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  gnome-bin gnome-libs-data libglade-gnome0 libgnome32 libgnomesupport0
  libgnomeui32 libgnorba27 libgnorbagtk0 liborbit0 
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  etherape gnome-bin gnome-libs-data libglade-gnome0 libgnome32
  libgnomesupport0 libgnomeui32 libgnorba27 libgnorbagtk0 liborbit0 
0 packages upgraded, 10 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0  not upgraded.
Need to get 1343kB of archives. After unpacking 4066kB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main libgnomesupport0 1.4.1.2-2 [22.2kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main libgnomeui32 1.4.1.2-2 [416kB]
Get:3 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main liborbit0 0.5.8-2 [173kB]                 
Get:4 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main libgnorba27 1.4.1.2-2 [50.5kB]            
Get:5 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main libgnorbagtk0 1.4.1.2-2 [41.0kB]          
Get:6 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main gnome-bin 1.4.1.2-2 [90.0kB]              
Get:7 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main gnome-libs-data 1.4.1.2-2 [320kB]         
Get:8 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main libgnome32 1.4.1.2-2 [73.0kB]             
Get:9 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main libglade-gnome0 0.16-4 [40.6kB]           
Get:10 http://ftp.debian.org sid/main etherape 0.8.2-1 [117kB]                 
Fetched 1343kB in 1m4s (20.7kB/s)                                              
Selecting previously deselected package libgnomesupport0.
(Reading database ... 87260 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libgnomesupport0 (from .../libgnomesupport0_1.4.1.2-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgnomeui32.
Unpacking libgnomeui32 (from .../libgnomeui32_1.4.1.2-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package liborbit0.
Unpacking liborbit0 (from .../liborbit0_0.5.8-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgnorba27.
Unpacking libgnorba27 (from .../libgnorba27_1.4.1.2-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgnorbagtk0.
Unpacking libgnorbagtk0 (from .../libgnorbagtk0_1.4.1.2-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gnome-bin.
Unpacking gnome-bin (from .../gnome-bin_1.4.1.2-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package gnome-libs-data.
Unpacking gnome-libs-data (from .../gnome-libs-data_1.4.1.2-2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libgnome32.
Unpacking libgnome32 (from .../libgnome32_1.4.1.2-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libglade-gnome0.
Unpacking libglade-gnome0 (from .../libglade-gnome0_0.16-4_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package etherape.
Unpacking etherape (from .../etherape_0.8.2-1_i386.deb) ...
Setting up liborbit0 (0.5.8-2) ...
Setting up libgnorbagtk0 (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up libgnome32 (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up gnome-libs-data (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up libgnomesupport0 (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up libgnomeui32 (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up libgnorba27 (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up gnome-bin (1.4.1.2-2) ...
Setting up libglade-gnome0 (0.16-4) ...
Setting up etherape (0.8.2-1) ...
ogma:root (12) # 

I manage about 20 Debian boxes; and it's minimal effort to keep them
all up to date and installation of new packages is a total breeze.

Highly recommended.

          Colm

-- 
Colm Buckley : Systems Architect @ NewWorld Commerce
Business: +353 1 4334334  / colm at nwcgroup.com / http://www.nwcgroup.com/
Personal: +353 87 2469146 / colm at tuatha.org / http://www.tuatha.org/~colm/
As I lay in bed looking at the stars, I thought, "Where's the ceiling?!"