Thank you to zerozero who pointed me in the right direction so I could learn.
Please do not skip the first step. If you make changes without understanding the risks or reasons, you learn nothing.
My solution has five major steps and assumes that you are working with the default (unaltered) files created by LMDE:
[1] Please READ the following documents FIRST
- http://wiki.debian.org/AptPreferences
- http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debia ... f_archives
- (optional) the manpage for apt_preferences(5), plus
- (optional) the FAQ for unstable/sid @ http://wiki.debian.org/DebianUnstable#FAQ
[2a] BEFORE MODIFYING ANY FILES: CREATE A BACKUP of these two files sources.list and preferences:
Code: Select all
sudo cp -p /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.orig
sudo cp -p /etc/apt/preferences /etc/apt/preferences.orig[2b] (optional, but recommended) using Update Manager for testing, refresh the repository list, and take note of:
- the quantity of packages it wants to upgrade
- the names and version numbers of those applications
[3a] alter the two files as follows:
- add to /etc/apt/sources.list the line:
"deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free"
...so that it looks like this...Code: Select all
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free - edit /etc/apt/preferences to look like this:
You can remove/ignore the "Explanation" (comment) lines if you prefer
Code: Select all
Package: * Pin: release o=linuxmint Pin-Priority: 700 Package: * Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com Pin-Priority: 700 Explanation: Package: * Explanation: Pin: release o=Debian Explanation: Pin-Priority: 500 Explanation: Explanation: dependencies for gscan2pdf were found at http://packages.debian.org/sid/gscan2pdf Package: gscan2pdf Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 600 Explanation: The following files are necessary for support to gscan2pdf Package: libsane-perl libgtk2-ex-podviewer-perl sane unpaper djvulibre-bin gocr tesseract-ocr cuneiform Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 600 Explanation: goal is to prevent any unauthorized packages from unstable/sid being installed/upgraded Package: * Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: -100
Be sure to comment out or remove the third entry-block (containing "o=Debian")
[3b] (optional, but recommended)
- Run Update Manager again,
- refresh the repository list, and
- compare the new results with step [2b]
- If the upgrades do not match the results from step [2b] you have a problem.
STOP! RETURN to the previous step and try again. - If the results are the same (or don't require upgrading gscan2pdf's requirements), then close Update Manager and continue...
[4] Install gscan2pdf using the method of your choice, apt-get or Synaptic Package Manager.
If you're going to this length, you should already know how to use one or the other.
[5a] Rename the modified sources.list and preferences files so you can return to them when you want to upgrade gscan2pdf at a later date.
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sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.gscan2pdf
sudo mv /etc/apt/preferences to /etc/apt/preferences.gscan2pdfCode: Select all
sudo cp -p /etc/apt/sources.list.orig /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo cp -p /etc/apt/preferences.orig /etc/apt/preferences[5b] (optional, but recommended) Load Update Manager, update the repositories, and verify that the upgrades it recommends are the same as before (in step [2b] and [3b]), just to be safe.
At this point, you should be finished!