Thread: Lousy experience on Nokia N800
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TA-t3 is offline TA-t3
2008-01-09 , 12:07
Posts: 3,841 | Thanked: 1,079 times | Joined on Nov 2006
#64
Originally Posted by DJames1 View Post
So are you saying that if I install an app listed in the Installable Apps list from a repository, the App Manager will attempt to resolve dependencies automatically, even though it doesn't show that it's doing that?
Yes. That's the beauty of the apt-get+debian package system.

But if I install from a .deb file, the App Manager doesn't attempt to resolve dependencies from its repositories?
Again, correct. But read on..

Why not? Why shouldn't those two situations be equivalent? If the .deb file shows that the app needs library X, and the App Manager has library X listed in one of its repositories, shouldn't it attempt to fetch it and install it? Still trying to understand how dependencies get resolved...
The difference between installing from repositories (through the application manager or with apt-get) v.s. installing from .deb is that the former is an online operation while the latter is an offline operation. It will only try to resolve dependencies if you use the online method.

HOWEVER: If you install from a .deb then if there are missing dependencies the package will still be installed (or rather, half-installed), just not completed. The next time you do any kind of online installation it will also at the same time try to resolve any leftover dependency problems from your previous failed .deb install, in other words - if possible, it'll go online and find your missing modules and install them behind your back, so to speak.

HOWEVER2: The above mechanism is how it works if you install your .deb from the command line with 'dpkg -i package.deb' (as root) and you do your repository installations with 'apt-get install package', also from the command line. I haven't checked, but I suspect that it may not work exactly like this when you use the application manager.
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Last edited by TA-t3; 2008-01-09 at 12:09.
 

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