cant apt-get/dselect after update

[davidHarris]

If I do a clean HD install then do an apt-get update and select some packages (e.g. mod-python)
It throws up the usual loads of package upgrades + some removal candidates: one of which is sysvinit which it says is vital & dont do it.
If I try to select a sysvinit replacement like rcconf there appears to be a circular dependency problem. On other occasions it tries to remove a vital package like mount-aes. There seems to be a clash in the packages requested after an update but Im not good enough with apt to figure it all out: the apt-get uses the default apt sources.list file that comes with knoppix.

I have a useable system but I cant upgrade it.

My question then is;
Is there known to be an issue here? do others have apt-get upgrade problems?

How can I reverse the package list after doing one of these apt-get updates? At the moment I have to reinstall knoppix which is a bit dumb.

[mourner]

My question then is;
Is there known to be an issue here? do others have apt-get upgrade problems?

Usually I check /etc/apt/sources.list on any Debian installation before the first attempt of upgrading. If you ever have accidentally pulled up a system from stable to testing, you know what I mean.
In the case of Knoppix I comment all sources in /etc/apt/sources.list that I don't really need and end with just the "Security updates for 'stable'", "Stable", "Testing" and "Unstable" sections. As of today, apt wants to update 30 packages then and that works flawlessly.

[mew]

If I do a clean HD install then do an apt-get update and select some packages (e.g. mod-python)
It throws up the usual loads of package upgrades + some removal candidates: one of which is sysvinit which it says is vital & dont do it.
If I try to select a sysvinit replacement like rcconf there appears to be a circular dependency problem. On other occasions it tries to remove a vital package like mount-aes. There seems to be a clash in the packages requested after an update but Im not good enough with apt to figure it all out: the apt-get uses the default apt sources.list file that comes with knoppix.

My question then is;
do others have apt-get upgrade problems?
:(

Yes, I'm having similar trouble, which I can reproduce easily:
1) unpack the compressed filesystem from KNOPPIX_3.2_2003-04-18
2) chroot; mount /proc; tweak resolv.conf; make a minimal (but sufficient?) sources.list:

deb http://security.debian.org stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

3) apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade, which gives me the following dire warning:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
  abiword mount-aes 
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  foomatic-db-engine foomatic-db-hpijs foomatic-filters initscripts libacl1 libdb2-dev libdb2-util libkrb53 libpam0g-dev
  mount sysv-rc 
The following packages have been kept back
  gaim gnomemeeting tetex-extra 
WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
  mount-aes 
110 packages upgraded, 11 newly installed, 2 to remove and 3  not upgraded.
Need to get 52.1MB of archives. After unpacking 141kB will be used.
You are about to do something potentially harmful
To continue type in the phrase 'Yes, do as I say!'

Is my sources.list _too_ minimal? What else should be there? Where does mount-aes come from?

TIA

[davidHarris]

Yes, I'm having similar trouble, which I can reproduce easily:
1) unpack the compressed filesystem from KNOPPIX_3.2_2003-04-18
2) chroot; mount /proc; tweak resolv.conf; make a minimal (but sufficient?) sources.list:
[code]
Is my sources.list _too_ minimal? What else should be there? Where does mount-aes come from?

TIA

Exactly the same errors I had.
All I can tell you is how I fixed it. I edited the standard sources.list to get an unstable distribution (or install apt-spy);

# The following site was benchmarked at 38.71 kB/s
deb ftp://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/ unstable main

# The following site was benchmarked at 37.16 kB/s
deb ftp://ftp.esat.net/pub/linux/debian/ unstable contrib

# The following site was benchmarked at 36.71 kB/s
deb ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/debian/ unstable non-free "

then when I upgraded packages I had no problems. Of course if you want a stable distribution this isnt going to appeal to you. What the underlying cause is I have no idea - perhaps mixed stable/unstable packages in Knoppix? dunno.
Good luck

[Stephen]

Is my sources.list _too_ minimal? What else should be there? Where does mount-aes come from?

TIA

Is their software that is not installed that you need otherwise apt is doing what is supposed too, updating of the packages is a good thing (less problems with installed programs).

The mount-aes came from the CD I believe it is there to mount file systems encrypted with AES.

[qa1433]

I also have expirenced this problem. It probably is not a problem. I installed KNOPPIX_3.2_2003-04-18 on my hard drive. Smooth as slik, until I try the dist upgrade.

I guess I have been doing it wrong?
I have commented out everything except unstable.

So based on what previous msg's in this thread say, I should comment out everything except stable, unstable and testing.

Is this correct ?

Thanks in advance,
paul

[Stephen]

I also have expirenced this problem. It probably is not a problem. I installed KNOPPIX_3.2_2003-04-18 on my hard drive. Smooth as slik, until I try the dist upgrade.

I guess I have been doing it wrong?
I have commented out everything except unstable.

So based on what previous msg's in this thread say, I should comment out everything except stable, unstable and testing.

Is this correct ?

Thanks in advance,
paul

You are running unstable you can not dist-upgrade you are already there. I guess maybe you could go to experimental if I understand the way it works correctly.

[qa1433]

Thanks Steve,
However, I still am not 100% sure if I should commented out everything except unstable or if I should comment out everything except stable, unstable and testing.

Which is correct for the source.list file for KNOPPIX_3.2_2003-04-18?

Thanks,
paul [/u]

[Stephen]

Thanks Steve,
However, I still am not 100% sure if I should commented out everything except unstable or if I should comment out everything except stable, unstable and testing.

Which is correct for the source.list file for KNOPPIX_3.2_2003-04-18?

Thanks,
paul [/u]

There is no "correct" apt will get the packages from the sources.list entries. If your current entries are causing you no problem (ie. breaking packages) then you can leave the file as is.

If you want to run unstable then leave the unstable entries, testing the same idea and after you have commented out whatever lines you want too and apt-get update make sure you apt-get -s upgrade to simulate what apt will do and check to make sure it is not going to remove any packages you need or want.

[qa1433]

Thanks Steve,
The most important thing is the command you mentioned.
apt-get -s upgrade

The -s option is something I learned from you.

This will save my behind.

paul