On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, bbennet wrote: > Can someone explain why apt-get update will not make a new > /var/lib/dpkg/available? /var/lib/dpkg/available is a file used only by dselect. (And tasksel, but I consider that a grave bug.) It only matches apt-cache dumpavail if dselect is set to use the apt [A]ccess method, and is updated only if you [U]pdate from within dselect (which then calls /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/apt/update). If you have told dselect to use the dpkg-ftp [A]ccess method, then dpkg-ftp will supply the contents for /var/lib/dpkg/available when [U]pdating in dselect. You can easily alternate between using dselect-with-dpkg-ftp and apt-get-from- commandline; they're separate front-ends that use separate "available" files. And you don't want one front-end to mess with files of another. Actually, seen from an organizational point of view the package management is a complete mess, mostly because historically there has never been a good separation of functionality. For example it should have been /var/lib/_dselect_/available and /usr/lib/_dselect_/methods/apt/update. This is a well-known issue, but pretty hard to resolve. And it isn't really broken, so there's no real urge to fix it. Regards, Anne Bezemer -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
