Hi Jenny W, Please set your mailer to wrap long lines at about 70 characters.
On Thu, May 31, 2001 at 09:44:46AM -0700, jennyw wrote: > I started using Debian because folks suggested it was easy to > maintain (e.g. apt-get). I really like apt -- it certainly makes > installing and downloading things a lot easier than other > distributions. However ... I'm not (yet) a heavy Linux user, and I > find that a lot of times I want software that's more recent than the > stuff in the packages. This usually means that I end up downloading > stuff and compiling new software. > How do other people deal with this? Do you install the new software > you need manually and then when the package gets released install it > again with apt-get (probably not practical for frequently updated > software)? Do you just use apt-get by default and download and > compile when you need to (and then never use apt for those > packages)? I put deb-src lines to unstable in my sources.list: 10:02 $ grep ^deb-src /etc/apt/sources.list | grep -v cdrom deb-src ftp://ftp-linux.cc.gatech.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian unstable main contrib non-free deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free and, if there's a newer version in sid that hasn't made it to potato yet, I can do user$ apt-get -b source package [get coffee here] root# dpkg --install package_version.deb Much easier than getting tarballs off the net, and you have all the advantages of the dpkg system. > Also, I'm currently using potato because it's labeled as > stable. Would I be making a bad mistake by moving to Woody to get > some of the more recent stuff? What about mixing stable and > testing/unstable distributions? Is this generally unwise? I get really sad when my computer gets b0rked, so I run stable. If the risk of occasional breakages doesn't bother you (and I hear they're pretty rare), run testing. > It just seems like it's hard to use Debian without downloading > stuff. Some of the software I'm installing seems like it would be > pretty common: > > Cyrus IMAP (2.x -- current version is 1.5.19; there > is no later version in testing or unstable) Then you should file a "new upstream version available" bug, if there's not one already. > Postfix (20010228 or > higher -- current version is 19991231; there is a later version in > testing) Then you can apt-get -b source as described, or just grab the newer .deb from http://packages.debian.org/postfix . Unstable seems to have 20010502. > I'd like to hear how Debian old-timers work with this. Thanks! Jen Hope this helps. Rob -- It is contrary to reasoning to say that there is a vacuum or space in which there is absolutely nothing. -- Descartes
