[NCLUG] apt-get error code

[Bob Proulx]

Matt Taggart wrote:
> Probably what you ran into is an untested upgrade path.  In general
> you should be able to upgrade from one Debian version to any newer
> Debian version of a package (forward only, backward usually works
> but isn't supported).  If you're mixing in 3rd party stuff, that's
> less likely to be tested and harder to support.

He said he had installed Knoppix but reported it as Debian.  And as we
all know Knoppix is not really Debian.  Knoppix is a custom
distribution built with Debian components, Red Hat components, other
components, custom components, etc.  It is as cool as a custom
"tricked out ride" and resembles the car it was based upon in about
the same way.

When I have encountered remove problems in the past I have inspected
the /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package>.postrm script and debugged the
problem there.  Fixing the script will solve the problem.  The brute
force method is to put 'exit 0' at the top to disable it entirely.

While Knoppix is a wonderful live cdrom system I can't recommend it
for a hard drive installation because upgrades are very difficult
there.  I have tried some experiments with installing Knoppix and then
upgrading from one Knoppix version to another in the past and I had
only limited success.  So your guess at an untested upgrade path was
almost certainly correct.  My experience is that Knoppix is not
upgradeable, in contrast to Debian.  But it is an awesome live cdrom
system.  For hard drive installation for the newbie I recommend
Ubuntu instead of Knoppix.

Bob