On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 12:11:54AM -0400, Eben King wrote:
> So I tried to upgrade mplayer. apt wanted to do what seems to be its usual
> thing now, which is to uninstall package A and then install package A++.
> (There were 63 things to do.) This time, it hung partway through (couldn't
> remove /usr/X11/bin which is used by opera). So some things (for example
> xterm) got uninstalled and never reinstalled. What I think is the solution
> is to go to runlevel 1 and use aptitude (or apt-get) to fix the problem. I
> don't know the syntax for either one of those. Help?
>
To move to single user mode,
telinit 1
Then you can run aptitude as usual.
Apt-get really has only four main commands:
apt-get update, which updates your repository package list,
apt-get upgrade, which upgrades everything (takes you, for example, from
stable to testing),
apt-get install somepackage which installs somepackage, and
apt-get remove somepackage which removes somepackage.
There are other commands, but you don't need to run them unless
instructed by apt-get to do so. In that case, follow apt-get's
instructions on which variant to run (such as apt-get -f check).
I've had to do "surgical" apt-gets before, where you just let apt-get do
what it wants, and then clean up after it. Sometimes that involves
uninstalling whole subsystems like X, and then doing fresh installs of
them. Sometimes, you have to call up aptitude to find out what package
or packages something is depending upon, or what package conflicts with
it. You can search in aptitude with "/" and "n" for next match. Once you
find a package in question, you can hit <Enter> and see what its
dependencies, recommendations, and the like are. When done with the view
of package dependencies, you hit "q" to quit back up to the next level.
In any case, sometimes you have to go one package at a time and do
repair as you go along. That's why I don't recommend apt-get upgrade
unless you can avoid it, because upgrade tends to cause problems like
this.
Paul
-- Paul M. Foster ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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