I just switched over to debian a few months ago and I have been using apt-get so far but I haven't really gotten the hang of the "voodoo magic" behind it. One minute I am trying to install a crypto library and then before I know what has happened the server suddenly has LDAP and a print server installed.
There also seems to be some strange interdependance between mysql and mailx such that removing exim with apt-get also removes mysql. Very frustrating. + I would also like an Apache built to specifications instead of with everything.
Even 'apt-get gcc' yields unexpted results for me ( which is the reason this thread came about in the first place). using apt-get I have ended up with both gcc_4%3a3.3.5-3_i386.deb and gcc_4%3a4.0.1-3_i386.deb in my apt-get .deb cache where I would have expected gcc-3.3_3.3.5-13_i386.deb or gcc-4.0_4.0.2-2_i386.deb.
Any idea what those % signs mean in a downloaded .deb package ???