On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:10:24 -0400,
Madhusudan Singh <spammers-go-here@spam.invalid> wrote:
> Michael C. wrote:
>
> >> What happened when you say it "bombed" ? The error messages would be
> >> very useful in locating the problem.
> >
> > That is the command that apt suggests to fix a borked apt-get.
>
> apt-get should not bomb in the first place.

Agreed, but it can, and did.

> > Okay, I ran
> >
> > sudo dpkg --purge --remove-depends kontact kontact-plugins \
> > kdeaddons kdepim
>
> My man page does not say anything about the --remove-depends option. I
> assume you are trying to purge (remove all config files for these 4
> packages).

I was.

>
> >
> > followed by
> >
> > $ sudo apt-get -f install
>
> I do not understand. What are you trying to install ?

The command is suggested by apt-get when something fails and you
are left in an inconsistent state. (It was suggested by the
error message)

> > How do I tell apt to forget about adding those packages? So apt
> > is usable again.
> >
>
> If some other package depends upon these packages, it would be extremely
> unwise to even attempt what you are saying above.

The packages were listed as extra packages to be installed, not
dependencies.

> Development packages have dependencies. For instance kdelibs-dev would
> depend upon kdelibs (usually).
>
> To do what you are trying to do (install kolf and kmodemlights) :
>
> apt-get install kolf
> apt-get install kmodemlights

The packages weren't available for my current version of KDE. I
didn't have the development packages installed, and when I used
apt-get install, It started telling me about broken packages. I
added the packages suggested. It downloaded what it needed to
upgrade me to KDE 3.3. Then it had trouble installing when
downloaded.

> Let is download and install whatever it needs to (that is the entire magic
> of using apt-get - you do not need to babysit the dependency checking
> business). As to kontact :

While I haven't seen better than apt, it does have problems on
occasion. I probably shouldn't be playing with unstable, but
I'm not sure if I can just switch to testing without a major
upgrade, if it would work at all.

> §» apt-cache search kontact | grep "kontact"

Useful.

> kontact - KDE pim application
> kontact-plugins - plugins for Kontact, the KDE groupware client
>
> Its your pim application. Its a pretty useful tool to have (probably
> integrates with kmail, korganizer, kaddressbook, kpilot, etc.).

I wouldn't have needed it, but thanks.

I found a useful link:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...8&newwindow=1&
safe=off& threadm=handler.78111.D78111.9753328002907.ackdone
%40bugs.debian.org&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522dpkg-deb
%253A%2520subprocess%2520paste%2520killed%2520by%2 520signal
%2520(Broken%2520pipe)%2522%26num%3D20%26hl%3Den%2 6lr%3D%26ie
%3DUTF-8%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwg

or

http://tinyurl.com/5u8jm

which suggests using

dpkg --force-overwrite [broken packages]

Using:

sudo dpkg --install --force-overwrite kontact.deb \
kontact-plugins.deb # actually used full file names
sudo apt-get -f install

got me back to a consistent state, and installed KDE 3.3.

Thank you,

Michael C.
--
mcsuper5@usol.com http://mcsuper5.freeshell.org/

"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time
to reform." - Mark Twain