Want FTP client, trying kbear, but...

[RobertB]

Some questions are so basic, I guess, that they don't get added to the FAQ. Getting an FTP client up and running (on my Knoppix HD install) would seem to be one of those. :)

I know I can use Konqueror, and I've found command-line FTP, but since I'm a total newbie I want to get used to installing programs. It looks like KBear (http://kbear.sourceforge.net/) is a nice GUI FTP client, so I'm trying to install it. And I'm getting dependency errors, so I'm trying to install the things it's dependent on.

http://www.debian.org/ is a handy resource for installing apps, so I'm getting the .deb from there. Actually, I'm copying the URL of the .deb file from Opera (which I did get installed, whee!) to KPackage. KBear had a few dependency problems, so I tried grabbing one of them, kdelibs3. But it doesn't want to install either:


Selecting previously deselected package kdelibs3.
dpkg: regarding .../kdelibs3_2.2.2-13.woody.8_i386.deb containing kdelibs3:
kdelibs4-dev conflicts with kdelibs3 (<< 4:3.0.0)
kdelibs3 (version 4:2.2.2-13.woody.8) is to be installed.
dpkg: error processing //root/.kpackage/kdelibs3_2.2.2-13.woody.8_i386.deb (--install):
conflicting packages - not installing kdelibs3
Errors were encountered while processing:
//root/.kpackage/kdelibs3_2.2.2-13.woody.8_i386.deb

Any suggestions for a) a more newbie-install-friendly FTP client or b) the right way to install KBear?

(And if you have a chance, I'd like to know why KPackage takes soooooo long to show the dialog when I hit File/Open)

[Stephen]

Some questions are so basic, I guess, that they don't get added to the FAQ. Getting an FTP client up and running (on my Knoppix HD install) would seem to be one of those. :)

I know I can use Konqueror, and I've found command-line FTP, but since I'm a total newbie I want to get used to installing programs. It looks like KBear (http://kbear.sourceforge.net/) is a nice GUI FTP client, so I'm trying to install it. And I'm getting dependency errors, so I'm trying to install the things it's dependent on.

http://www.debian.org/ is a handy resource for installing apps, so I'm getting the .deb from there. Actually, I'm copying the URL of the .deb file from Opera (which I did get installed, whee!) to KPackage. KBear had a few dependency problems, so I tried grabbing one of them, kdelibs3. But it doesn't want to install either:


Selecting previously deselected package kdelibs3.
dpkg: regarding .../kdelibs3_2.2.2-13.woody.8_i386.deb containing kdelibs3:
kdelibs4-dev conflicts with kdelibs3 (<< 4:3.0.0)
kdelibs3 (version 4:2.2.2-13.woody.8) is to be installed.
dpkg: error processing //root/.kpackage/kdelibs3_2.2.2-13.woody.8_i386.deb (--install):
conflicting packages - not installing kdelibs3
Errors were encountered while processing:
//root/.kpackage/kdelibs3_2.2.2-13.woody.8_i386.deb

Any suggestions for a) a more newbie-install-friendly FTP client or b) the right way to install KBear?

(And if you have a chance, I'd like to know why KPackage takes soooooo long to show the dialog when I hit File/Open)

It looks like you are trying to install a package meant for stable and that will not work it will downgrade your install. Try going to the command line either through opening a console window (clam shell icon on taskbar) then typing su enter key type in the root password when asked then apt-get -s install kbear if the output of the simulated command looks good then remove the -s from the line to actually install or logout from the kde session and choose from the kde greeter screen in the menu option console login and login as regular user then use the su to become root and use the above suggested command. If you would like to install packages graphically I would suggest apt-get install synaptic then from a console window after having used su to become root type in synaptic. All this assumes that you have first done an apt-get update to have updated the apt database with the available packages from the archives.

[RobertB]

It looks like you are trying to install a package meant for stable and that will not work it will downgrade your install. Try going to the command line either through opening a console window (clam shell icon on taskbar) then typing su enter key type in the root password when asked then apt-get -s install kbear if the output of the simulated command looks good then remove the -s from the line to actually install or logout from the kde session and choose from the kde greeter screen in the menu option console login and login as regular user then use the su to become root and use the above suggested command... All this assumes that you have first done an apt-get update to have updated the apt database with the available packages from the archives.

Ok, now that's something I didn't try -- as a newbie, I don't really understand the difference between using SU and just logging on as Root. (and then there's "sudo"... is that just a one-command "su"?) I've tried "apt-get update", but it didn't seem to be working very well. (Hope I didn't break anything by ctl-C'ing!) I guess I need to:

* Log in as root
* Open a shell
* Do "su"?
* Run an apt-get update
* Try apt-get -s install kbear
* Then (hopefully) apt-get install kbear


If you would like to install packages graphically I would suggest apt-get install synaptic then from a console window after having used su to become root type in synaptic.

I'm actually trying to go back to the command line. I'm an old DOS hand, and it's exciting (if occasionally frustrating) going back to the hard way. But if my cluelessness overcomes my idealism, I'll have to try synaptic.

[tearinghairout]

as a newbie, I don't really understand the difference between using SU and just logging on as Root.SU stands for "switch user" and is used to change to root - or any other user for that matter - AFTER you have already logged in as someone else.
If you simply log in as root, there is no need to do a further su.
People tend to mention su a lot on the forum because Knoppix - when run as intended from CD - automatically logs you on as Knoppix, hence you need to su to do anything adminy.
(and then there's "sudo"... is that just a one-command "su"?)Exactly.

* Log in as root
* Open a shell
* Do "su"?
* Run an apt-get update
* Try apt-get -s install kbear
* Then (hopefully) apt-get install kbear As noted above, no need to do the su if you log in as root to start with.

[Stephen]

Ok, now that's something I didn't try -- as a newbie, I don't really understand the difference between using SU and just logging on as Root. (and then there's "sudo"... is that just a one-command "su"?) I've tried "apt-get update", but it didn't seem to be working very well. (Hope I didn't break anything by ctl-C'ing!) I guess I need to:

* Log in as root
* Open a shell
* Do "su"?
* Run an apt-get update
* Try apt-get -s install kbear
* Then (hopefully) apt-get install kbear



Ah the broken lines in the /etc/apt/sources.list you need to put a # character in front of the lines that have people.debian.org , and if the server is still down from the crash yesterday then the security.debian.org and non-us.debian.org lines, there may be a couple of other lines as well the sources.list is so old in the last knoppix by now things have moved around quite a bit this is what my sources.list looks like from my Debian install to give you an idea of what it should look like after editing:


>$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# Security updates
#deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
#deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
#deb http://security.debian.org/ unstable/updates main contrib non-free

# Stable
deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
#deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Sources
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ stable main non-free contrib
#deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Testing
deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
#deb http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

# Sources
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

# Unstable
deb http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib
#deb http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Sources
deb-src http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

## Various Multimedia Helper Apps, Mplayer, Real, etc... ##
#deb http://marillat.free.fr/ testing main
#deb http://marillat.free.fr/ unstable main
#deb http://hpisi.nerim.net/ unstable main
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main

## XFree 4.2/4.3
#deb http://people.debian.org/~branden/packages sid/i386/
#deb-src http://people.debian.org/~branden/packages sid/source/
#deb http://www.penguinppc.org/~daniels/sid/i386 ./
#deb-src http://www.penguinppc.org/~daniels/sid/source ./
## Expermential needed for XFree86 4.3 for the KDE CVS
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main contrib non-free

## K3b 0.10.3 sources for sarge requires KDE > 3.1.2 from SID
#deb http://www.planet-moll.de/debian sarge main

## Kio-apt sources for unstable
deb http://lpnotfr.free.fr/debian/ ./

## Java Runtime j2re1.4
#deb ftp://ntama.uni-mainz.de/pub/debian unofficial/

## KDE CVS
#deb http://www.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/~aschultz/debian/ unstable/
deb http://rs.fuzz.nl/muesli/686/kde_head/ unstable/


The CTRL-C will not harm apt at all it will happily pickup where it left off in the last update. And you should login as the "normal" user then use the su to become root it is not a good idea to run the system as root.



I'm actually trying to go back to the command line. I'm an old DOS hand, and it's exciting (if occasionally frustrating) going back to the hard way. But if my cluelessness overcomes my idealism, I'll have to try synaptic.

That's good a lot of people who have only run windows seem scared to death of the command line and it is definitely an important part of running any Linux system. The most import thing to remember when using apt is the -s it simulates the command being run and gives you the opportunity to bail out of a situation before you even get into it.

[RobertB]

I ran "apt-get update" with the modifications, and it was a much smoother experience without the error messages. Slow over an out-in-the-boonies dialup, but no errors.

However, when I try to apt-get the kbear app, I get dependency errors:


root@littlecutie:/home/rab# apt-get -s install kbear
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kbear: Depends: zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.1) but 1:1.1.4-16 is to be installed
kmines: Depends: kdelibs3 (>= 4:2.2.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libkdegames (>= 4:2.2.2-2.2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libqt2 (>= 3:2.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: kdebase-libs but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).


At this point, I'm pretty confused. What does the game "kmines" have to do with the FTP client "kbear"? I tried apt-get -s install zlib1g, and got similar results -- dependencies on libraries required by both kmines *and* kbear. Any suggestions?

[Stephen]

Try apt-get -s install kbear/unstable to tell apt to simulate getting the package from unstable. If this does not work can we see the output of apt-cache policy kbear.

[RobertB]

Try apt-get -s install kbear/unstable to tell apt to simulate getting the package from unstable. If this does not work can we see the output of apt-cache policy kbear.

I thought for sure that would work... but it generated the same output that was generated without /unstable. Here's the output you requested:


root@littlecutie:/home/rab# apt-cache policy kbear
kbear:
Installed: 1.2.1-13
Candidate: 2.1.1-1
Version Table:
2.1.1-1 0
990 http://ftp2.de.debian.org testing/main Packages
500 http://ftp2.de.debian.org unstable/main Packages
*** 1.2.1-13 0
500 http://ftp2.de.debian.org stable/main Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status


The strangest thing is that kbear claims to have dependencies on kmines, if I'm interpreting the output correctly. I still don't see what in the world kmines has to do with kbear! If it's useful, here's the output when I try to apt-get kmines, just to see if that helps.


root@littlecutie:/home/rab# apt-get -s install kmines
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kbear: Depends: kdelibs3 (>= 4:2.2.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libqt2 (>= 3:2.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: kdebase-libs but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).


What?! kbear needs kmines needs kbear. Do I have something corrupted, or what?

[Stephen]

Well there is definitely something going on there I just tried it on my SID install here and it installs fine:


HappyTux:/home/stephen# apt-get -s install kbear
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
kbear (2.1.1-1)
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 17 not upgraded.
Inst kbear (2.1.1-1 Debian:testing)
Conf kbear (2.1.1-1 Debian:testing)
HappyTux:/home/stephen# apt-get install kbear
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
kbear (2.1.1-1)
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 17 not upgraded.
Need to get 2547kB of archives.
After unpacking 9019kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp2.de.debian.org testing/main kbear 2.1.1-1 [2547kB]
Fetched 2547kB in 17s (145kB/s)
Reading package fields... Done
Reading package status... Done
Retrieving bug reports... Done
Reading changelogs... Done
Selecting previously deselected package kbear.
(Reading database ... 86090 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking kbear (from .../kbear_2.1.1-1_i386.deb) ...
Setting up kbear (2.1.1-1) ...

localepurge: Disk space freed in /usr/share/locale: 848K


Try apt-get --purge remove kbear then install with the kbear/unstable maybe even post the output of the simulated install so we can see what it is trying to do during install.

[RobertB]

Try apt-get --purge remove kbear then install with the kbear/unstable maybe even post the output of the simulated install so we can see what it is trying to do during install.

Aha! The old "push the car back up the hill and see if the brakes fail again" approach! :) I'll try that tonight (remove both kbear and kmines) and see if I get better results from a blank slate.

Meanwhile, just in the process of trying to install an FTP client, I've learned about dependencies, hacking the apt-get sources list, the advantages of "su" and "sudo" over logging in as root, and now how to uninstall. I haven't had this much fun since the '80s!

[RobertB]

It just gets stranger and stranger.


root@littlecutie:/home/rab# apt-get --purge remove kbear
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kmines: Depends: kdelibs3 (>= 4:2.2.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libkdegames (>= 4:2.2.2-2.2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libqt2 (>= 3:2.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: kdebase-libs but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

That's pretty much the same output I get with apt-get install kbear!

I got similar results trying to uninstall kmines:


root@littlecutie:/home/rab# apt-get --purge remove kmines
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kbear: Depends: kdelibs3 (>= 4:2.2.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libqt2 (>= 3:2.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: kdebase-libs but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

Is there some sort of circular dependency here? Am I going to have to manually delete files to fix things?

[Stephen]

Try apt-get --purge remove kbear kmines and can I see the output of apt-cache policy kdelibs4 it looks like it keeps wanting to install stuff from stable here you may want to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list to comment out (put a #character in front of) the line for stable in the file.

[RobertB]

Try apt-get --purge remove kbear kmines

It worked! w00t! Now I know how to remove multiple applications, even when they have intermeshed dependencies. There's no limit to the trouble I can cause myself now...


...and can I see the output of apt-cache policy kdelibs4 it looks like it keeps wanting to install stuff from stable here you may want to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list to comment out (put a #character in front of) the line for stable in the file.

Let me know if you still would like this info... otherwise, it looks like the topic's done with great results. Thanks to all!

(Now, if I could just figure out why it takes kbear several minutes to load... but that's probably my low memory and disk space, not a Knoppix issue.)