Debian newbie

[tank junior]

Hi,

I am using debian for the very first time and first impression is some what better then other distros I had used earlier.
I am using debian-40r8-i386-kde-CD-1 using VirtualBox in xp as a host. There were some specific development requirements to use an older version.

The link from where I have downloaded the image says:

Note that when you install using an old CD/DVD, the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list will reference the current stable Debian release by default. This means that any upgrade over the net will upgrade to the current stable release. To avoid this, but still receive security upgrades for an old release which is still supported, you may want to change the contents of this file, replacing "stable" with "oldstable".

The contents of my sources.list are:

Code: Select all

# 
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r8 _Etch_ - Official i386 kde-CD Binary-1 20090410-18:56]/ etch contrib main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r8 _Etch_ - Official i386 kde-CD Binary-1 20090410-18:56]/ etch contrib main

# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
# Line commented out by installer because it failed to verify:
#deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

I don't see word "stable" to replace with "oldstable"?

I DON'T want to upgrade my system but would like to download packages from repository and other updates such as security ones, what changes should I make?


Default python is 2.4.4 where as I need 2.6.4 or 2.6.5. Is it possible to uninstall old one and install 2.6.5? If yes, is it available on the repository or I have to build from sources?

That's it for now.

Many thanks to debian developers.....It's really a nice one

Cheers

Prashant

[woodsman]

Rather than "stable" or "unstable," use "etch" in your sources.list

[Bro.Tiag]

Right, as woodsman says, use "etch". Which it what is listed in your sources.list file. You could replace "etch" with "oldstable", or not, your choice.

Cheers

[bugsbunny]

If I'm not mistaken security updates for etch have been stopped - it's no longer supported. See [SECURITY] [DSA-1975-1] Security Support for Debian 4.0 to be discontinued on February 15th

You'll need to add some online repositories, although if you have the full CD/DVD set it will remain static at this stage.

You will want to use etch in the name. For a list of on-line repositories see http://www.debian.org/mirror/list
Once you have the online repos setup you'll want to comment/remove the CD's.

Why do you need etch? Python 2.6 doesn't jive with "specific development requirement to use an older version". If you really need those on etch you'll need to compile them yourself.

etch backports is still available (although no longer being updated) start [Debian Backports]

[tank junior]

Ok,

Environment : Debian 4 etch

Python 2.6.5 is successfully compiled from source and installed. Now I need to install couple of other modules and utilities.
I am still not able to add a repository to download packages.

I have to install wxPython also and I am following the instructions as explained here:
http://wiki.wxpython.org/InstallingOnUbuntuOrDebian

wxWidgets repositories are add but it's because there is no repository is added to downloaded packages, I am getting message:
[quote]
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
python-wxgtk2.8: Depends: libwxgtk2.8-0 (>= 2.8.10.1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Broken packages
[quote]

Please let me know how to add a repository in package manager?

Cheers

Prashant

[refracta]

when you followed that howto, what repo did you add?


to add the debian main repo for etch you would add

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main

to your sources.list

[bugsbunny]

I just want to add that if you have a client that is running etch you should strongly encourage them to upgrade due to the lack of security updates. Yes the client is always right, except when they're wrong. If they still insist on etch then at least you tried. Support for lenny will likely be gone in about 1.5 years (give or take, depends on exactly when squeeze finally goes stable). FWIW I think squeeze is going to be a very nice release

refracta answered the repo question.