Apt-get can't find packages.

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dave_dex · #1 Post by **dave_dex** » 2006-10-27 21:29

I'm new to debian and one of the factors in making me switch over was the ease with which features can be installed using apt.

The problem I'm having is that 'apt-cache search <package>' is not finding the packages I need (specifically java-package and fakeroot as per the many posts detailing how to install java).

It's my understanding that the source repositories specified in /etc/apt/sources.list designate the repositories which are searched when you run 'apt-cache search' or 'apt-get update'. I've tried a number of repositories and I've searched the web to see if certain packages are only on certain repositories but to no avail.

I'm running stable sarge but I've also tried the testing sources. Can anyone help me out? I'm sure it's something simple I'm missing.

Thanks in advance.

goweropolis · #2 Post by **goweropolis** » 2006-10-27 21:38

Fakeroot appears to be available in all the Debian releases, so it's surprising that you can't see it. Did you run "aptitude update" before searching? That will make a local listing of the packages available on the repositories listed in the sources.list file. Apt-cache then searches the local listing for the file you're interested in.

dave_dex · #3 Post by **dave_dex** » 2006-10-27 21:41

Looking at some other posts I thought it's worth mentioning that I have the backports source repository in my sources.list

dave_dex · #4 Post by **dave_dex** » 2006-10-27 21:54

Aptitude update enabled me to get fakeroot however I still can't get java-package. Looking at the web though this is only available from the unstable version so I'll spend some more time looking into things.

Thanks for the help!

goweropolis · #5 Post by **goweropolis** » 2006-10-27 22:08

I find the Debian package website very useful.
http://packages.debian.org/

It gives you a lot of searching options. Another very cool way to use it is if you're looking for java-package, goto the following URL:
http://packages.debian.org/java-package
(Note that there's no slash at the end.)

It will automatically search for the package.

It looks like java-package is in the "contrib" section for stable, testing and unstable. You will need to adjust your sources.list to include the contrib section, and then aptitude update, then aptitude install java-package.

dave_dex · #6 Post by **dave_dex** » 2006-10-27 22:18

That's sorted it - much obliged, Goweropolis.