Are repos for LMDE and LM mixed together? [SOLVED]

[macias]

Today I ran into a problem -- I wanted to install libgtk devel version, which required libcairo (dev) which required libfontconfig (devel) which required libfontconfig (bin) -- and this last one couldn't be resolved.

I saw it on the list, so why the problem? It appears, that there were 2 sources of this packages -- one from Debian repo (this one was correct, i.e. there was devel and binary package) and one from LM (incorrect, the binary counterpart was missing).

But what else I found -- the version from LM repository was with suffix "ubuntu", and since every letter is "greater" than digit, Synaptic assumed it was the latest version of the package.

Anyway -- maybe I am mistaken, but Ubuntu packages can cause problems in Debian (at least that is what I heard). So -- since LM is based on Ubuntu, and LMDE on Debian -- are repos (packages to be strict) for LM and LMDE mixed together?

Thank you in advance.

[cwsnyder]

Before you tried installing the GTK package, did you install build-essential for LMDE?

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apt-get install build-essential

as root? This package is normally required for any development and also normally keeps the type library conflicts to a minimum.

Yes, LMDE points to some Mint libraries as a part of the user interface. The Mint menu, updater and other packages are the same for both Mint based distros. Ubuntu and Debian can use many of the same application .deb packages, but some will clobber each other, especially packages which change the user interface. In the same way, GTK packages can be used for the LXDE and Enlightenment desktops, but can conflict and change operation, depending on which packages are chosen.

[richyrich]

http://packages.linuxmint.com/list.php?release=Debian
http://packages.linuxmint.com/list.php?release=Julia

[macias]

Thank you guys for the links and explanation.

No, I didn't install that package. I can understand the need of installing it, but for me (technical POV) it is bad design -- you have to know in advance which package to install to avoid installing the package you are about to install. This is some kind of common wisdom, but it should be put explicitly in the packages, not in user heads. Of course I am not taking about sharing frontends, but libraries which causes conflicts and/or are unable to set their dependencies.

Once again, thank you for sharing the knowledge, you solved my problem.

[richyrich]

Hmmm, for you to get the ubuntu flavor . . do you by chance have a Mint Julia repository activated in your sources list ?

[macias]

I have such entry

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deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import

The rest are debian repos (I mean: from debian domain). I added the one above, because I converted Debian RC2 into LMDE, and such entry was shown in both HowTos I've read.