I'm attempting to install ntpdate on Debian etch and am getting the following errors

# apt-get install ntpdate
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
locales: Depends: glibc-2.11-1
ntpdate: Depends: libcap2 (>= 2.10) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libssl0.9.8 (>= 0.9.8m-1) but 0.9.8c-4 is to be installed
PreDepends: dpkg (>= 1.15.7.2) but 1.13.25 is to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

I've tried to separately intall the dependancies but keep getting bounced back to the same errors..

Anyone have any ideas on What i can do? here is my apt sources.list

/etc/apt# more sources.list
# TESTING
deb ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb-src ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free

# SECURITY
deb http://security.debian.org etch/updates main contrib non-free

First of all, if you're running Etch 4.0, then your sources.list is going to totally hose you up because it is specifying testing, which currently is Squeeze 6.0. If that is really the case, then you should first dist-upgrade to Lenny 5.0 (current stable release) and then dist-upgrade to Squeeze. Typically, I use the codename in my sources.list so that I'm always tracking a particular release. All you have to do is replace all of the words "testing" with whatever codename you're interested in like "etch" or "lenny" or "squeeze". But like I said, if you are really running Etch, you need to do a partial upgrade to Lenny first before you can get to Squeeze.

Secondly, it may be that the package is in slightly broken state due to the freeze in preparation for releasing Squeeze. But you might try running a dist-upgrade or try using aptitude (aptitude install ntpdate). Supposedly aptitude has better dependency handling and has been the recommended package management tool since Etch.

As pljvaldez stated above, you sources.list is hosed. Second to that, the etch-repository is no longer mainttained and moved to the archives, so you can't install anything this way. Upgrade to lenny, anf then, if you want, to squeeze. Make sure to read the release notes if you upgrade, and please BACKUP your data.

You actually can install things from Etch, you just have to point your sources.list to archive.debian.org and use either "oldstable" or "etch" as the release.

In fact, if you could find install images, you could install Buzz (it'd probably have to be in a virtual machine).

3 members found this post helpful.

Sorry, didn't know that.

pljvaldez

Thanks for all of your help, using the archive worked perfectly.. I realase dist upgrade is the way to go but as it's a critical business app server, this will require testing/downtime before completed in production.

Thanks again!