APT-GET is rabbit-dung ... please confirm/deny

[nathan r. hruby]

On Fri, 6 Dec 2002, Bernard Mentink wrote:

[snip]

> 
> >To keep your system healthy, ALWAYS follow deps, they are not there for
> >fun.
> 
> You are being somewhat simplistic in your view my friend.
> 

No, he isn't.  Dependancies are there for a reason, if the system tells
you that other packages depend on something you're trying to remove, then
you best listen else suffer the fate of RPM getting wedged or the things
that depend on the removed package breaking: eg - your current situation.

> I tried to remove my distro version of Ghostscript with rpm -e, but it
> complained about dependancies. Since there is no documentation
> on how to remove those dependancies apart from the -nodeps option, I fail to
> see the what else I could have done .... please enlighten me to the correct
> procedure.
> 

To resolve dependacies for package removal you would uninstall the 
dependant packages.  apt will do this for you with the remove command.  On 
the whole, you should be using apt for pretty much all the normal package 
operations.

To get yourself out of the jam you're in now I would Build a custom rpm
with your needed requirements and up the minorversion or append a self tag
to the version and then use rpm -Uvh to install it.  This will satisfy
RPM's dependacies and give you what you need.  You would also do well to
pin your version of gs in apt so that future upgrades don't quash your
changes.  

There are several discussions about building source rpm's in the archives
of this list as well as on the web.  Pining packages should be covered in
the apt manpage.

> Keep in mind that the version of Ghostscript I was trying to upgrade to (ijs
> support)  was only available in tar-ball form, please outline the correct
> procedure to
> use to remove the old distro rpm version and update with the tar-ball
> version.
> 

Do you mean that you can only get it if you build from source becasue of
some obtuse step in the build procedure or dependacy on a closed library
or just that this feature isn't present in the distro version?  If the
former (build oddness) is the reason you'll need to script logic needed
that into the RPM spec.  If it's the latter (just not part of the default
build) you should file a feature enhancement request at bugs.terrasoft.com
for this to be added to the gs packages.  If there is a dep on a closed 
binray pakage, simply ensure that the lib is installed before you make 
your custom package. 

> Your comment above is obvious, what is not obvious is some constructive
> direction to resolve this.
> 

Hopefully you will find my comments constructive enough to satisfy your 
needs and point you in the correct direction.  If not, I belive YDL offers 
per-incident phone support that should be able to help you in a more 
detailed manner.

-n

-- 
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nathan hruby <nathan@drama.uga.edu>
computer services specialist
uga drama
http://www.drama.uga.edu/support/
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