Hi

I'm a recent Debian convert. I like the apt-get system for installing packages. I am also using aptitude and synaptic.
My only problem with APT is that a couple of days ago I tried to install j2re (Java Runtime) and the installation failed. So I decided to solve the problem by downloading directly from the sun website. Since then, every time I use aptitude it'll try to install j2re. It's getting pretty annoying. I've read all the Howtos, newsgroups, man pages etc but I can't seem to find a solution. Can someone help me with this?
Is there a way to tell aptitude or apt-get or synaptic to stop being persistent about installing packages?

Thanks

I had the same problem with another package. Run
apt-get remove j2re[or whatever the package is named]

Seems the problem is apt partially installed it. Or at least it's confused.

First launch aptitude. Then use the search function "/" to find the j2re package. It's probably marked to be installed. Once the highlighted area is on the j2re package, press "=". This should cancel the planned installation.

I am aware of that I can manually cancel the installation but I was wondering if it was possible to do have this done automatically.

Also, I like Synaptic's interface a little better than Aptitude (IMO) but Synaptic does NOT install recommended packages by default and this can be a problem. For example, I installed K3b through synaptic. Upon running K3b it tuned out it needed cdrdao (a recommended package for k3b) which synaptic had not installed.
Aptitude has an option to install recommended packages (which I really like) and I was wondering if there is a way to make synaptic do this (if there is one, it isn't obvious). Or is there a GUI frontend to Aptitude? I like the fact I can use Aptitude with an SSH login but when I'm on the desktop I prefer a GUI.

Sorry if I was a bit unclear. In aptitude you can use "=" to cancel planned installation and also to "freeze" a package so that aptitude doesn't try to upgrade this freezed package without you specifically requesting it. You'd have learned that had you bothered to see the online help that you can get in aptitude with the "?" key.

In synaptic you can do all the package management tasks you do in aptitude, plus a couple of tasks you cannot do in aptitude. I particularly like the synaptic feature where you can edit sources.list. But synaptic is a slow dog when compared to aptitude -- and you can use aptitude from console.

If you check out synaptic's settings you'll find that you can configure synaptic to install also recommended packages (I thought that was the default behaviour).

There's also another frontend to apt-get, in addition to aptitude and synaptic, called "gnome-apt" but I haven't tried that one.

Wow, gnome-apt is pretty nice. There is a nice array of choices to administer packages. However, one thing that I find annoying are the constant configuration boxes that popup a lot of times. When i did a "apt-get install gnome" a lot of configuration boxes popped up in the *middle* of the installation. Is there any way to delay these till the end of the install or is there some workaround or a way to ignore them?
Also, if you apt-get something like a server, it automatically starts it for you. Can I disable this?
I'm a former Gentoo user (please, no flames ) and I'm spoiled by portage. Portage never asks you about configuration in the middle of an emerge and never starts stuff for you. I'm trying Debian out because I feel Gentoo is too unstable and bleeding-edge.

I know it's not going to be completely smooth transitioning. Just curious if there are any fixes for the problems I mentioned above.

T

Run "dpkg-reconfigure debconf" and choose a higher priority level. Then Debian will use the default settings, which should work in most cases.

Sigh. The obvious downside of package management that doesn't configure applications for you is that YOU have to configure them yourself in order to make them work. Then there are distros that configure everything without giving you a choice to control anything (and it sounds to me that this kind of distro would be what you want). Debian is a nice intermediate between these two extremes -- Debian configures installed applications for you so that they are ready for use, but it asks you (if you want it to) first before making any changes.

Sure you can. See the man page for update-rc.d. Some services can be also turned on/off using the rcconf http://packages.debian.org/testing/admin/rcconf utility.

Thanks! I remember Debian asked me to set debconf priority after installation. BTW, the Linux community in general is wrong in saying that the debian installer is too hard to use. It really didn't live up to it's expectations. I found the install smooth and easy.
I love Debian so far, but there are a few oddities with apt. For example, one thing I tested the apt system with was gnome. I didn't have XFree installed and I installed gnome. I was unhappy because aptitude installed gnome but not XFree. How am I supposed to run gnome without XFree? I know as a Linux user I needed to do it manually but a newbie wouldn't. I also know with gentoo, if you install either KDE or Gnome, it will install XFree for you if you don't have it. Oh yes, I did make sure aptitude was set for installing "recommended packages". But I guess X isn't a requirement or a recommended package for gnome (which is quite strange).
But slowly and surely I am getting used to Debian. Sorry for the formatting of this message (writing this from a text browser..don't ask!)
T

I agree, that's a bit odd. The first time I installed Debian I also installed a desktop environment and wondered why I cannot get it started. (Yes, I too didn't read the installation documentation. ) But once you become familiar with Debian's ways, you'll find that there's a handy meta-package called "x-window-system" that comes with all the necessary goodies plus a useful DebConf config program that helps you to get the X settings right.