kevin,
1 & 4) You need to learn & use the debian package system versus compiling packages by hand. There is certainly nothing wrong with compiling from source, the debain package system is WAY faster and tested. This http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2638 is a good thread for apt-get tips. Here http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/ap...pt-get.en.html is the offical debian manual on apt-get.

2) This dependency could most likely be resolved by using the debian packages system.

3) From Debian Releases http://www.debian.org/releases/
Debian always has at least three releases in active maintenance: "stable", "testing" and "unstable".

- stable
The "stable" distribution contains the latest officially released distribution of Debian. This is the production release of Debian, the one which we primarily recommend using.
The current "stable" distribution of Debian GNU/Linux is version 3.0r2, codenamed woody. It was released on November 21st, 2003.

- testing
The "testing" distribution contains packages that haven't been accepted into a "stable" release yet, but they are in the queue for that. The main advantage of using this distribution is that it has more recent versions of software, and the main disadvantage is that it's not completely tested and has no official support from Debian security team.

See the Debian FAQ for more information on what is "testing" and how it becomes "stable". The current “testing” distribution is sarge.

-unstable
The “unstable” distribution is where active development of Debian occurs. Generally, this distribution is run by developers and those who like to live on the edge. The "unstable" distribution is called sid.
I hope this helps.

James