Hi All,

This is a dependency issue I am trying to solve. I need to get python 2.2 installed to satisfy a dependency for the makejail package. Here are some steps I've done:

I try to install makejail and I get the following:

>>> cerberus:~/sources# dpkg -i makejail_0.0.5-4_all.deb
>>> Selecting previously deselected package makejail.
>>> (Reading database ... 8331 files and directories currently installed.)
>>> Unpacking makejail (from makejail_0.0.5-4_all.deb) ...
>>> dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of makejail:
>>> makejail depends on python (>= 2.2); however:
>>> Version of python on system is 2.1.3-3.2.
>>> dpkg: error processing makejail (--install):
>>> dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
>>> Errors were encountered while processing:
>>> makejail
>>> cerberus:~/sources#


I clean up using:

>>> cerberus:~/sources# apt-get -f install
>>> Reading Package Lists... Done
>>> Building Dependency Tree... Done
>>> Correcting dependencies... Done
>>> The following packages will be REMOVED:
>>> makejail
>>> 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 9 not upgraded.
>>> 1 packages not fully installed or removed.
>>> Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 164kB will be freed.
>>> Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
>>> (Reading database ... 8351 files and directories currently installed.)
>>> Removing makejail ...
>>> cerberus:~/sources#


I verify the python is installed:

>>> cerberus:~/sources# apt-get install python2.2
>>> Reading Package Lists... Done
>>> Building Dependency Tree... Done
>>> Sorry, python2.2 is already the newest version.
>>> 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 9 not upgraded.
>>> cerberus:~/sources#

Finally; I removed python

>>> apt-get remove python

Then removed Python2.2

>>> apt-get remove python2.2

I also manually removed

>>> /etc/python
>>> /etc/python2.2

and then re-installed python 2.2

>>> apt-get install python2.2

now when I do:

>>> which python

I get nada....What the hecK???

Distro: Debian/woody
Confusion Level: Extreme
Experience with Deb: Low


To add to this; I've got the .deb for the package since I can't seem to craft an entry for sources.list that will let me use apt-get to install the sucker so I am stuck with trying to use dpkg to do it only dpkg doesn't do dependency fixing like apt-get does. I've been fighting with this since yesterday and I'm reaching out for some advice...

Thanks in Advance!

Here's at least a starting point for you:

# /etc/apt/sources.list
# See sources.list(5) for more information

#Debian
deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
#deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
#deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian sarge main contrib non-free
#deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian woody main contrib non-free
#deb-src ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://archive.progeny.com/debian unstable main
deb-src http://archive.progeny.com/debian unstable main

#Debian Non-US
deb http://non-us.debian.org/ stable/non-US main contrib non-free
#deb http://non-us.debian.org/ unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
#deb http://non-us.debian.org/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
#deb http://non-us.debian.org/ woody/non-US main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/ woody/non-US main contrib non-free

#Debian security updates
deb ftp://security.debian.org/debian-security stable/updates main contrib non-free
#deb-src ftp://security.debian.org/debian-security stable/updates main contrib non-free

The problem is that the default python in stable is 2.1.3 (and it will be forever). Unless you want to hack the crap out of your system to make 2.2 the default version (i.e., what /usr/bin/python points to, and what the python deb itself points to), you'll want to use unstable instead, where the default version of python is 2.3.2 right now.

Bingo. Thanks Strike. I was trying to figure out what was what... Hmmm... I got the file to download and install but there are still issues. I'll do some digging on how to change the base version. Hopefully without having to re-install!

Well, the process to carry out the transition to unstable is simple. The work involved once you get it there will be a little more ... well, involved. Unstable is an excellent branch of Debian with up to date stuff and it's also very stable in spite of its name. However, packages don't get tested before inclusion into this branch NEARLY as much as they do for the stable branch. So, they will break sometimes. Never in the past 3 years of my using Debian has this been a catastrophic failure causing a reinstall, though (I'm running the same install as what I put on about 3 years ago). At the very worst, I have to simply hold a package (and possibly, the packages that depend on it) to their current version and not upgrade, or I have to do a bit of manual dpkg hackery, but that's very rare. But, knowledge of how Debian works and how to get around a Debian system is a Good Thing(tm). It also helps to know where to get help: #debian on IRC, package bug listings, here, the debian-user mailing list ... those are all good places to ask about what's going wrong when things do go wrong.

Yep. Sounds like good solid advice... Also I have my [Li/U]nix Admin at work who is ardently trying to swing me from RedHat to Debian. In the mean time I will continue the trudge! Thanks for the help!