> > > > One other thing that I am unsure about is that aptitude reports a number > > of packages being 'held back'. I havn't intentionally asked for this, > > could it have occured automatically or have I unintentionally done > > something when initially learning to use aptitude? > > Hugo is right, just fully backup the partition, if it will make you > feel better. The 'held-back' refers to packages which have newer > versions available but can't be installed because some dependency is > not available. 'Dist-upgrade' is what you need to resolve some of > these. You will at some point just have to "do it" and be prepared for > the results. Personally, I've done many very large upgrades in sid > with generally no problems. ymmv.
Thanks - in that case I will give it a go. Just wanted to be sure everything looked normal before letting it run. I have had problems in the past after upgrades on gentoo which has led me to be reticent about updating software in advance of actually needing some new feature... > Finally, if you aren't prepared to > maintain the system properly to avoid these issues, maybe you shouldn't > be running a more volatile set of packages like testing and focus on > stable instead. no offense intended if so perceived. Point taken, and it was my intention to stick to stable for my first Debian install, but I was forced into Etch because the Toshiba Lifebook included hardware that needed drivers not included in stable. In fact even Etch hasn't managed to get everything working - but at least it allowed me to get most of what was working under a Ubuntu live CD also working in Debian. (I can survive with microphone and modem problems, but not a non-working X server..) Can you elaborate on what you consider to be necessary to 'maintain the system properly'? I recall reading somewhere that it was considered anti-social to update with excessive frequency, but I don't recall seeing any warning that using unstable involved a commitment to a minimum upgrade frequency. Regards, DigbyT -- Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com http://www.digbyt.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
