If you stick to installing packages only from the Debian Stable repository, you 'should' never run into dependency issues where versions won't match. If you are installing packages from other sources you will start to run into conflicts along the way. with the number of packages in Debians repository I rarely ever have to install from another source.
Packages calling for a newer version of a library shouldn't be a problem if all those packages are coming from the same source (repository) it should all be handled automatically with no extra work on your part.
I would recommend you start using aptitude rather than apt-get since you are running Debian. Aptitude does a better job of tracking/resolving dependencies and what not.. no I don't totally understand it, but that's what the Developers have recommended since the release of Debian Etch.
Aptitude works pretty much identically to apt-get from the command line.
http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/.../rn01re01.html
aptitude search <packagename>
aptitude install <packagename>
aptitude remove <packagename>
aptitude purge <packagename>
aptitude hold <packagename>
the first thing you should do when switching to aptitude is use the keep-all command, to ensure aptitude doesn't get confused and uninstall packages you actually use. Once that is done you should use aptitude pretty much exclusively for installing and removing applications.
aptitude update
aptitude keep-all
You only need to use keep-all once when you first switch.
You have an error in your sources list.. looks like there are two [
..] between debian and org which is causing apt to fail at retrieving the package list from those sources.
Code:
Couldn't stat source package list http://security.debian..org etch/updates/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.debian..org_dists_etch_updates_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://security.debian..org etch/updates/contrib Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.debian..org_dists_etch_updates_contrib_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://security.debian..org etch/updates/non-free Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/security.debian..org_dists_etch_updates_non-free_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
W: Couldn't stat source package list http://www.debian-multimedia..org etch/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/www.debian-multimedia..org_dists_etch_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)
once that is done you should do the
apt-get -f install as recommended
then I would use apt-cache to see what those dependency errors are telling you.
Code:
user@it-etch:~$ apt-cache policy libsvn1
libsvn1:
Installed: 1.5.1dfsg1-1
Candidate: 1.5.1dfsg1-1
Version table:
*** 1.5.1dfsg1-1 0
500 http://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu lenny/main Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
[
This shows what version is installed,
The Candidate version if there is an upgrade possible
What repositories the packages are coming from..
let me show another example with a package that has an update available
Code:
user@it-etch:~$ apt-cache policy linux-libc-dev
linux-libc-dev:
Installed: 2.6.26-8
Candidate: 2.6.26-10
Version table:
2.6.26-10 0
500 http://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu lenny/main Packages
*** 2.6.26-8 0
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
In this example version 2.6.26-8 is currently installed, and 2.6.26-10 is being offered from the main branch of the repository.
This is helpful when you need to figure out dependency issues.
and make sure you use ONLY repositories form one branch of Debian ( Stable/etch, Testing/lenny, or Unstable/sid ) Mixing these will cause problems and severe dependency issues if you don't know what you are doing.. Mixing them will give you the ability to completely break your system in a single update. This is an option for a more experienced Debian user, but I highly discourage it for New users. Mixing the different versions will cause a lot of dependency issues and version conflicts..
