Hi there, I'm trying to install Debian 1.1 (I know that it's unstable and maybe I should start with a stable release first, but I have already learned a few things and I think I should be able to complete the installation with your help).
To this end, I have made a copy of one of the mirrors to a local disk which I then take home with me to install Debian from. Now, I have already done this and it seems that the Packages* files and the contents of the directories are out of sync. Are the Packages* files used at all by dpkg or dselect? If so, can I just create a correct version there by running dpkg --avail then copying the /var/lib/dpkg/available file? If not, what else can I do? I have tried to run dpkg --update-avail bla.deb but that failed with a message about wrong format of the file. Also, it seems that dselect sometimes gets confused about which packages are available. What would I need to do to convey the right state of affairs to dselect? Create the correct Packages.gz file? Something else? Also, when dselect claimed that it could install a package, I tried to install it using dpkg --install which ran just fine. This makes me believe that maybe dselect shouldn't be used for installing a beta version? I would be happy with using dpkg if you told me a reasonable way of resolving conflicts and installing a number of packages at once. For example, WIBNI I could just do a magic incantation to install all required packages, say? Then, if that succeeds I would install all important packages, then I would look at what other packages I want. I will be starting with a clean slate tonight or tomorrow, i.e. I will run cfdisk then mkfs on my disk, install the base system from floppies, then mount the external disk with my copy of Debian (unstable/binary-i386, contrib, non-free) and then do whatever you tell me is best. Please reply by mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as well, as my subscription to the list doesn't seem to have been processed already. Thanks a lot in advance for your patience, kai -- Life is hard and then you die.
