Chris Knadle wrote:
> Joe -- good talk.  I learned a few things.  Just wanted to pass along these 
> other tidbits that I was talking about at dinner, and a couple of others I 
> wanted to mention.
> 
> aptitude
>    text-based package manager that allows for downgrading packages.
>    Installed by default on Debian, I suspect it might be on Ubuntu also.
>    To see the versions available, press 'v' on a package, select another
>    version for installation with the '+' key.  'g' means "Go",
>    just like the "Apply" button in Synaptic.  Press '?' for the help
>    screen + key legend.
>    Aptitude also makes a log as it works in /var/log/aptitude similar
>    to the log that Synaptic makes.  Just like you said -- saves your butt.

This program is so horrible that I had/have a mental block when it come
to it. Synaptic is the GUI version of aptitude they are twins yes, but
aptitude is nearly impossible to use. I wish there was a real command
line way of forcing a package back. Since a 'force' will keep the
correct libraries and depends in alignment.

> deborphan
>    Not installed by default; in it's own package with the same name.
>    Lists all the orphaned packages on the system; by default it only looks
>    at orphaned libraries rather than all packages.  apt-get autoremove
>    seem to be have the same way, looking at orphaned libraries rather than
>    all packages.  [IMHO this is actually as it should be.]

Will add that

> checkinstall
>    Not installed by default; in it's own package with the same name.
>    When compiling source code that's outside of the distribution you can
>    still make a package out of the built code (a .deb, .rpm, or .tgz) so
>    that the installed binaries can be easily removed later or for
>    installation on another system.  This is not meant to replace proper
>    Debian package generation, but rather is an easy quick-n-dirty tool
>    to allow installing code from source as a package even though there
>    isn't a proper package available for it.

This looks like a good addition, but it's deep. I think that I should
split off the "building from source" into it's own 2 hour talk. Giving
it it's due and adding how to package deb and rpm files ( yes you can
make rpm files on Ubuntu )

> apt-get clean
>    clears out the cached packages in /var/cache/apt/archives/
>    Just ran it on my desktop, gained back 1.2 GB.  Yeah, I forgot about it
>    for a while.  :-P

Will add with the warning that this removes your ability to do some
"going back" or fixing since you need the internet to pull down packages
 you had.

> remember to mount /proc before doing a chroot
>    The contents of the /proc directory contain special files that are
>    actually pointers into kernel space; some programs need the information
>    in /proc to get certain information.  I just do this by habit even if
>    what I'm doing may not need it.
>    So the procedure for doing a rescue changes just slightly:
> 
>    boot rescue cd
>    make directory for mounting the system to be rescued: mkdir /mnt/rescue
>    mount the necessary partition -- Ex: mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/rescue
>    mount proc -- Ex: mount -o bind /proc /mnt/rescue/proc
>       [ As Mike mentioned at dinner the -o bind isn't necessary,
>         but the above is easier for me to remember than:
>         mount -t proc proc /mnt/rescue/proc                     ]
>    chroot into rescue environment -- Ex: chroot /mnt/rescue
>    And and the end and you forget what you did to get here, remember that
>    the reason you can't unmount /mnt/rescue is because you have to unmount
>    /mnt/rescue/proc first.  :-)
>    

Yes I must add this, good ketch!

> Wanted to write this up before I forgot about it.
> Cheers
> 
>    -- Chris
> 


Another thing that I missed is "alien" which gives you the ability to
convert other systems packages like RPM to DEB format! This comes in
really handy if you use LVM and want to install there system-config-lvm
 GUI to manage your lvms ( just use alien to convert
ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/releases/8/Everything/i386/os/Packages/system-config-lvm-1.1.1-2.0.fc8.noarch.rpm

to a deb file install it and then change the first line in
/usr/sbin/system-config-lvm to "#!/usr/bin/python" since that's the path
on Ubuntu)

I have to really tweak the prez, needs work to live up to the "Advanced
Ubuntu" name but it's getting there. I will most likely give the talk
again to the New York Ubuntu group via VoIP and distributed VNC so keep
tuned.

Joe

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