Debian: Broken packages, bug

[Thomas Milne]

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 10:28 AM, Lennart Sorensen
<lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 01, 2011 at 09:07:34AM -0400, Russell Reiter wrote:
>> They are all important lines, sometime's you have to read between them.
>
> Certainly true.  Certainly in this case the important line would have been:
> E: /var/cache/apt/archives/gstreamer0.10-gconf_0.10.30-1_amd64.deb:
>  trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/gstreamer-0.10/libgstgconfelements.so',
>  which is also in package gstreamer0.10-plugins-good 0.10.24-1
>
>> You mean your malfunctioning Nautilus doesn't use mime types?
>
> I would hope it does.  On the other hand mime types probably don't have
> anything to do with the package conflict in this case.  They could be
> an issue later if something doesn't work with gstreamer (as is often
> the case).
>
>> It doesn't start at all, or it starts and doesn't parse and display
>> directory contents.
>
> Probably depends how far dpkg can before running into conflicts.
>
>> Unmet dependencies are not quite the same as not being installed
>> properly. That message says in effect, it should work when you meet
>> those dependencies. How you meet them is up to you.
>
> In the interest of future upgrades, meeting them through apt would make
> sense.  Sure equivs can be used to convince apt that you have done so,
> but isn't usually the first choice.
>
>> Each of those packages that apt cannot handle at this time may be
>> compiled and installed one at a time to meet those unmet dependencies.
>
> It would be more productive to get the debian source package and fixing
> the control file to have the missing 'Replaces' that the bug report says
> it needs.  Still would need compiling, but much less messy and easier
> to maintain.  Meeting the dependancy of the code is one thing, but
> meeting the dependancies of the packaging system is another.
>
>> Personally, I have never been able to keep a gnome system which deals
>> with video and audio streaming without having to hand bomb something
>> into the configuration.
>
> Gnome and gstreamer certainly can be hassle.  I think I usually end up
> using mplayer in the end after giving up on whatever gnome has tried
> to do.

MPlayer is an awesome application for the desktop, but on the system I
use for streaming, it was an amazingly simple setup. All I did was
install a default Gnome desktop on Debian Unstable and then installed
XBMC. That machine can then stream from my WD MyBook, and it does a
better job in most ways than the Playstation does. It plays almost any
format, many more than any proprietary device, and it even allows for
using a remote, though a wireless keyboard and mouse is cool too.

Outside of XBMC, all I need is Google Chrome which lets me stream
video from any site I can think of, like CBC, Democracy Now, Al
Jazeera, YouTube, etc.

I can't think of anything else I would need. There might be some
esoteric formats I cannot handle with a default setup like this, but I
haven't run into any yet. Actually, I don't think I can play BBC stuff
because they have some weird proprietary player, but I download all my
BBC documentaries from eztv.it anyway.

The only real limitation I run into is the idiotic Canadian ban on
streaming other country's TV shows, like from Comedy Central and so
on.

-- 
Thomas Milne
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