why are some packages held back? is it because their dependencies are not in the repositories yet? currently the beryl svn packages are being held back. is this because i have an older version of beryl svn installed? how can i resolve these dependencies so i can install the newer beryl svn? or will they be automatcally resolved as they become available in the repositories? thank you kindly for your patience and explanations.

Are you running Etch, Lenny or Sid (i.e. Stable, Testing or Unstable) or a mix? What does your sources.list look like?

If you're running a stable version of Debian (Sarge or Etch), then because of Debian's philosophy of using only the most tested and stable versions of applications, you'll only see what some may consider older versions in your Debian stable repos. In order to get newer versions of some apps, you'll have to open your testing and unstable repos. This is NOT recommended on a system that is used as your primary system. Debian doesn't stamp apps as stable until it takes a nuke to destabilize them. That's the Debian Way! It's also what makes Debian one of the most ROCK SOLID distros you'll ever experience.

i am running lenny upgraded from knoppix 5.1.1. here is my sources.list

# /etc/apt/sources.list for Knoppix
# If you want to do a "full upgrade", you should first
# upgrade the Packages from Debian/unstable (KDE & Co.)
# before doing a (dist-)upgrade for Debian/testing.
#
# See sources.list(5) for more information, especialy
# Remember that you can only use http, ftp or file URIs
# CDROMs are managed through the apt-cdrom tool.

# Security updates for "stable"
deb http://security.debian.org stable/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org testing/updates main contrib non-free

# Stable
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian stable main contrib non-free

# the non-US branch doesn't exist anymore since sarge. -KK
# deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Stable Sources
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian stable main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Testing
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian testing main contrib non-free
# deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

# Testing Sources
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian testing main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/pub/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free

# Unstable
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
# deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Unstable Sources
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
# deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

# Experimental
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian experimental main contrib non-free

# Experimental Sources
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main contrib non-free

# ndiswrapper source (disappeared, only source.tar available)
# deb http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/debian ./

# KDE 3.5 (not in sarge)
# deb http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.5.0/ ./
# deb-src http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.5.0/ ./
# deb http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.4.1/ ./
# deb-src http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde-3.4.1/ ./

# Wine
deb http://wine.sourceforge.net/apt/ binary/
# deb-src http://wine.sourceforge.net/apt/ source/

# Unichrome graphics driver
# deb http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~glaweh/debian/ unichrome/
# deb-src http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~glaweh/debian/ unichrome/

# NX stuff
# deb http://www.kalyxo.org/debian/ experimental main
# deb http://www.kalyxo.org/debian/ unstable main

# ndiswrapper
# deb http://rigtorp.se/debian unstable/
# deb-src http://rigtorp.se/debian unstable/

# Blades Repository (pppoeconf & co)
# deb http://people.debian.org/~blade/testing ./
# deb-src http://people.debian.org/~blade/testing ./

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 r3 _Potato_ - Official i386 Binary-1 (20010427)]/ unstable contrib main non-US/contrib #non-US/main

# Knoppix special packages resource at LinuxTag HQ
# deb http://developer.linuxtag.net/knoppix ./
# deb-src http://developer.linuxtag.net/knoppix ./

# deb http://snapshot.debian.net/archive pool gcc
# deb-src http://snapshot.debian.net/archive pool gcc

# From the Kanotix archives
# deb http://kanotix.com/files/debian/ ./
# deb-src http://kanotix.com/files/debian/ ./

# NX Server
# deb http://debian.tu-bs.de/project/kanotix/unstable/ sid nx
# deb-src http://debian.tu-bs.de/project/kanotix/unstable/ sid nx

# NX Client (binary-only, non-free)
# deb http://kanotix.com/files/debian/ sid main contrib non-free

# Packages from ubuntu. CAUTION, they don't mix well with Debian
# deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary main universe multiverse
# deb-src http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary main universe multiverse

# Unofficial packages, like JAVA
# deb ftp://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free restricted
# deb-src ftp://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free restricted
# deb ftp://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free restricted
# deb-src ftp://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free restricted
# deb ftp://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free restricted
# deb-src ftp://ftp.debian-unofficial.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free restricted

# Open-Xchange and JavaMail packages
# deb http://ox.cs.bme.hu/ox-stable sarge contrib

# Open-Xchange development version (currently 0.8.1.2-1) and JavaMail packages
# deb http://ox.cs.bme.hu/ox-devel sarge contrib

# Various Projects

# Thunderbird
deb http://people.debian.org/~asac/experimental ./
deb-src http://people.debian.org/~asac/experimental ./

# Beryl/Compiz from Ubuntu
# deb http://www.beerorkid.com/compiz dapper main
# deb-src http://www.beerorkid.com/compiz dapper main

# imu's Beryl-SVN Debian-unstable Repository
# GPG key: 81836EBF
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb debian-unstable beryl-svn
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb debian-unstable beryl-svn

# NX
#deb http://sidux.com/debian/ sid nx
#deb-src http://sidux.com/debian/ sid nx

# whereto - automatic detection of country/language
# http://www.iki.fi/karvinen/wheretero.html
# http://myy.helia.fi/~a0600207/terodeb

# Local FTP-KL
#deb http://ftp.uni-kl.de/debian-local sid main

#Multimedia
#deb http://mirror.home-dn.net/debian-multimedia sarge main

Getting a Debian system from another Debianbased distro isn't the prefered option (read as: highly discouraged)... I suggest to remove any and all entries not related to Lenny. Or better: start again from scratch...

thank you all for your prompt replies. i won't be starting from scratch as i have put a lot of time in on getting beryl and xen to work.thanks again!!