Any Hard Core Debian Users Out there

[pradeep_chauhan]

Hi Guys i was just wondering that are there any debian users out there. I am new to debian and seem to run into a wall every now and then. So being selfish and choosing a easer path i thought i can ask some nagging q in this forum.

[GNUrag]

How do you define hard-core ? I've migrated to debian for 2 years and find it better than RedHat or other distributions in many respects... There's an appreciable difference between both, file locations are quite different...

[pradeep_chauhan]

Well here goes please help me out with the folloing
1. where do we specify static routs in debian?
2. I want to install etherreal with all its dependancy itried dselect apm-get and aptitude nothing seem to work
3. how to remove a stuck package kde-kontact... is stuck and i get an error each time i try to run dselect
4. how to change the boot level in debian i tried putting level 3 in the inittab file but x is still starting
5. where is the sudo file
6. where do you get a good debian tutorial (the one on the homepage of debian is a bit shallow )
i hope i do not overload you with my querry list

[GNUrag]

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

1. where do we specify static routs in debian?

check your network configuration in /etc/network/* especially the file interface

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

2. I want to install etherreal with all its dependancy itried dselect apm-get and aptitude nothing seem to work

# apt-get update
# apt-get install ethereal
This should work for sure, always... satisfying all your dependencies...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

3. how to remove a stuck package kde-kontact... is stuck and i get an error each time i try to run dselect

dpkg --remove package_name
dpkg --remove --purge package_name : to completely remove that package along with its configuration information

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

4. how to change the boot level in debian i tried putting level 3 in the inittab file but x is still starting

id:3:initdefault: : in /etc/inittab should take care...
and this works for sure... check if you did spelling mistake of you edited correct file...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

5. where is the sudo file

/etc/sudoers

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

6. where do you get a good debian tutorial (the one on the homepage of debian is a bit shallow )

?

[pradeep_chauhan]

thanks for the effort and the help.

[pradeep_chauhan]

Hey GNUrag
I think i am still in the doldrums. Read on to get my state
1. The static route are put in the file /etc/init.d/networking (it took two days to get it right and it does not work in the location you said) here is the addition

case "$1" in
start)
doopt spoofprotect yes
doopt syncookies no
doopt ip_forward no

echo -n "Configuring network interfaces..."
ifup -a
route del -net 0.0.0.0 gw 192.168.0.5 eth1
route del -net 0.0.0.0 gw 192.168.0.1 eth0
route del -net 0.0.0.0 gw 192.168.0.1 eth1
route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1 eth1
route add -net 127.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 lo
echo "done."
;;
stop)
if sed -n 's/^[^ ]* \([^ ]*\) \([^ ]*\) .*$/\1 \2/p' /proc/mounts |


2.The problem of installing etereal still exists here is the output

pebble:~# apt-get install ethereal
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kdeaddons: Depends: kontact-plugins (>= 4:3.2.3-2) but 4:3.2.2-1 is to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
pebble:~#
pebble:~# apt-get -f install
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
kontact-plugins
Suggested packages:
kdeaddons-doc-html
The following packages will be upgraded:
kontact-plugins
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0B/52.4kB of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 77829 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace kontact-plugins 4:3.2.2-1 (using .../kontact-plugins_4%3a3.2.3-2_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement kontact-plugins ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kontact-plugins_4%3a3.2.3-2_i386.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde3/kcm_kontactknt.so', which is also in package kontact
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kontact-plugins_4%3a3.2.3-2_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
pebble:~#

3. Now trying to remove the package no luck see
pebble:~# dpkg --remove kontact-plugins
(Reading database ... 77829 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing kontact-plugins ...
pebble:~# apt-get install ethereal
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
kdeaddons: Depends: kontact-plugins (>= 4:3.2.3-2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
pebble:~#

4. Changing the boot level no success ( I did not spell it wrong. come on yar i think i can do this bit)
pebble:~# cat /etc/inittab
# /etc/inittab: init(8) configuration.
# $Id: inittab,v 1.91 2002/01/25 13:35:21 miquels Exp $

# The default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault:

# Boot-time system configuration/initialization script.
# This is run first except when booting in emergency (-b) mode.
si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS

# What to do in single-user mode.
~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin

# /etc/init.d executes the S and K scripts upon change
# of runlevel.
#
# Runlevel 0 is halt.
# Runlevel 1 is single-user.
# Runlevels 2-5 are multi-user.
# Runlevel 6 is reboot.

l0:0:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 6
# Normally not reached, but fallthrough in case of emergency.
z6:3:respawn:/sbin/sulogin

lastly there is no file sudoers i tried to make one it did not work
pebble:/etc# ll s*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23 Apr 17 05:49 scrollkeeper.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 994 Jul 27 20:09 securetty
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 16236 Jul 28 04:17 services
-rw-r----- 1 root shadow 709 Sep 9 06:35 shadow
-rw------- 1 root root 682 Sep 9 06:31 shadow-
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 206 Sep 9 06:25 shells
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 185 Apr 13 10:56 sysctl.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1664 Jul 27 21:00 syslog.conf



Do you think my system is jinxed?

[GNUrag]

My goodness.... what is this ?

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

1. The static route are put in the file /etc/init.d/networking (it took two days to get it right and it does not work in the location you said) here is the addition

Contact some good network wizard... Ricky might me able to figure this out...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

2.The problem of installing etereal still exists here is the output

I just did the same for my computer... and it worked...
Anyhow, if it asks to do # apt-get -f install then just give that command... what it means is Fix Broken installations... and the state of your system suggests some thing in debian package tree is broken... just give # apt-get -f install and it will fix those broken installations... it will download those packages again and ask you for confirmation...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

Preparing to replace kontact-plugins 4:3.2.2-1 (using .../kontact-plugins_4%3a3.2.3-2_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement kontact-plugins ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kontact-plugins_4%3a3.2.3-2_i386.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/kde3/kcm_kontactknt.so', which is also in package kontact
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kontact-plugins_4%3a3.2.3-2_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Hmmmm, it seems that package kontact-plugins is corrupt or something... go to http://packages.debian.org and click on Search package directories.. enter kontact-plugins and download the debian package... and install that package manually using dpkg ...

Any way, if apt-get is acting up then go to http://packages.debian.org and download package files individually... if they dont install, then put all the package files into one directory and give...
# dpkg --install --force-all *.deb
i'm not joking, but when i get frustrated then i do a forced inatall and many a times it works...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

4. Changing the boot level no success ( I did not spell it wrong. come on yar i think i can do this bit)

# The default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault:

Check out the following directories and make sure there are no suspicious looking scripts that are starting Xserver...
/etc/rc3.d
/etc/rcS.d
/etc/rc.boot
Contents in rcS.d and rc.boot directory will be executed no matter what your runlevel is... so make sure there is no reference to anything like kdm, gdm, xdm ... these are the graphical login managers and should be present only in /etc/rc5.d and nowhere else...

Otherwise there's no reason why X server has to start... inittab file is the only thing that controls runlevel...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

lastly there is no file sudoers i tried to make one it did not work
pebble:/etc# ll s*

then make a new file and enter this inside it.

## User alias specification
# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL

I cant write in more... just read $ man sudoers to learn how to edit sudoers file...

Originally Posted by pradeep_chauhan

Do you think my system is jinxed?

might be...