Hi folks,
Yet another set of problems installing software, but this time, on a debian
system.
I'm running debian testing (woody) on this particular box. I wanted to
upgrade postgresql, and needed a lot of picky details, so an apt wasn't going
to do it, I needed to install from tarball.
One of the things I wanted to do was begin to use JDBC (java database
connectivity), and Postgres requires the package "Ant" in order to use JDBC.
(Ant is a Java build tool). OK, so I apt-get ant, and it says it's going to
install a bunch of stuff, and remove a bunch of stuff. I should have, but
didn't go through carefully and look at details of what it was installing and
removing, but it involved a fair bit of xwindow stuff. I wasn't concerned,
really, because even if it hosed my X-windows, I figured it wouldn't be a
problem to get it back, and I don't depend on X for this server at all (it's
a mail/web server primarily).
So, I install ant, and, yes indeedy, my x-window system got hosed. I get this
error (cannot stat /etc/X11/X (no such file or directory), aborting.
I am sorta stumped. I remembered that one of the packages ant was going to
remove (I don't understand why) was task-x-window-system, which I have now
learned was a major package. (I didn't realize that debian used "task" to
mean "this is a big package with lots of stuff") I re-installed
task-x-window-system, but I still get the same error.
Ideas?? Reinstalling the OS at this point is out of the question 1) because I
and my partner depend on it for personal mail, and 2) I don't have the time
to devote to re-setting up the server - it's been tweaked a lot in the last
year, and 3) I want to learn to solve this problem.
A related topic, that has been raised for me because of this issue and my
other software install travails (I'm learning to really hate RPM. I'm
beginning to think I should use only Debian and Slackware, although apt can
surely screw you sometimes). I realize that one of the reasons that Linux
isn't ready for prime time, is 2-3 times out of 10, sometimes more often if
you are doing a bit more complex stuff, installing software becomes a
learning experience. That's fine for most of us, and fine for me, but I
imagine most people don't want to be faced with that when they install
software...
Michelle
--
------------
Michelle Murrain, Ph.D.
President
Norwottuck Technology Resources
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.norwottuck.com
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