Debian install challenge...

[Randy Edwards]

> What should I do?  I have -no- idea how to modify the apt-get process to
> pull down and install the fonts from Sourceforge, and Google (both regular
> search and groups) has been of no use.  As for alternatives, I've found
> nothing. Suggestions?

    apt-get is simply following the directions of the package's 
install/postinstall scripts -- they're telling it to download them from 
Microsoft.  This should be fixed/updated in the next release of Debian Woody, 
and of course is fixed/updated in the new Sarge release that's being tested.

    The version of msttcorefonts in the stable/Woody version is 1.0.0.  The 
latest version in the Sarge/Testing and/or Unstable/Sid version of Debian is 
1.1.0.  You can find this sort of information out at 
<http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages> (or by running Sarge or Sid:-).

    The 1.1.0 version downloads the fonts correctly from SourceForge.  The 
dependencies of the 1.1.0 version can be found at 
<http://packages.debian.org/testing/graphics/msttcorefonts.html> and you can 
check their versions against what's on your machine.  The xutils and 
cabextract will be the most important ones; as you can see on the above page, 
those require dependencies greater than or equal to a specific version.

    Here's what I'd do: just go to the above link and download the 1.1.0. 
Then as root do a "dpkg -i msttcorefonts*.deb" and it'll install it; the 
install/config script will download and install the fonts correctly.

    One should have a bit of caution when mixing packages of various 
distributions of Debian.  IMHO, it's often safer to upgrade to the "next 
higher" (testing or unstable) release.  The reason for this is that sometimes 
Debian newbies will get themselves into a mess with conflicting versions and 
dependency problems by mixing packages from different releases.  But in this 
case it shouldn't be a problem.

-- 
  Regards, | <redwards at golgotha.net>   | GNU/Linux: superior tools
  .        | <http://www.golgotha.net> |  for those who know how
  Randy    |                           |       to use them.