[NBLUG/talk] Using apt-get and unstable packages

Andrew argonaut at softhome.net
Sat Nov 22 21:13:01 PST 2003


E Frank Ball wrote on Sat, 22 Nov 2003 15:01:46 -0800:

> On Sat, Nov 22, 2003 at 02:55:32PM -0800, Lincoln Peters wrote:
[snip]
> } But when I did that and ran "apt-get update", I got the
> } following output:
> } 
> } Fetched 3862kB in 37s (102kB/s)
> } Reading Package Lists... Error!
> } E: Dynamic MMap ran out of room!
> } E: Error occured while processing kjots (NewVersion1)
> } E: Problem with MergeList
> } /var/lib/apt/lists/security.debian.org_dists_stable_updates_main_binary_i386_Packages
> } E: The package lists or status files could not be parsed or
> } opened.
> } 
> } So what the heck does that error mean?  How do I fix it?
> 
> A well known bug.  In your /etc/apt/apt.conf file add this
> line:
> APT::Cache-Limit 10000000;
> 
> That will get rid of the error.
> 
> To install a package from unstable use:
> apt-get -t unstable install packagename

Well, Frank already answered your question, but your situation
brings up another topic: that of APT "pinning". Maybe you already
know about it, maybe not, but we seem to have enough Debian
newbies on the list that I figure this will be news to
*somebody*.

APT pinning, in a nutshell, is a way to somewhat gracefully mix
packages from the various branches of Debian development (stable,
testing, unstable, and experimental). Rather than trying to
explain it myself, I'll just point you to a discussion which has
been running in the Libranet forum for the past six months:
http://forum.libranet.com/viewtopic.php?t=1420  It's a very
popular thread, with almost 5500 views so far. Check the links in
the first post there, as well. There are a couple of good,
concise, one-page intros to pinning.

A.



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