gphoto2 and apt-sources: time to grow up?

[ryancw]

I am running stock LN3 from original CD, with few minor addtions, the vast majority via apt-get, from whatever sources the CDs gave me. I haven't done anything to change /etc/apt/sources.list or etc/apt/preferences. I think that may have to change now.

I have gphoto2 version 2.1.5-1.

I bought my daughter a Kodak C330 digital camera for graduatiion. We have a Kodak DX7440 which has worked great with LN--it has native support for it in gphoto--it is listed in the drop down box in the setup screen of gtkam. So I figured I couldn't go wrong with another Kodak. Wrong. The C330 is not listed among the supported cameras in my version of gphoto2. Gtkam can access photos from the camera's built in memory, seeing it as a generic PTP camera; but it won't access the photos stored on the camera's SD card.

So I noticed that the newest version of gphoto2 is 2.2.0. It is available in Debian unstable. I don't know how to get it.

I typed
apt-get install -t unstable gphoto2
and was informed that gphoto2 that I have is already the newest version (which it's not.)

So I'm trying to learn about sources and pinning.

My sources file looks like this:

## Libranet APT Configuration
## File: /etc/apt/sources.list
##
## Removing, changing, or re-ordering entries in this file will prevent use of
## the Libranet archive. Un-commenting deb-src entries or adding additional
## mirrors is acceptable.
################################################## ##############################

deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sarge main contrib non-free
# deb-src ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ sarge main contrib non-free

deb ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
# deb-src ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US/ sarge/non-US main contrib non-free

deb ftp://security.debian.org/debian-security/ sarge/updates main contrib non-free
# deb-src ftp://security.debian.org/debian-security/ sarge/updates main contrib non-free

# The Libranet archive entries should come last:
deb http://archive.libranet.com/archive/libranet/ hemlock main
# deb-src http://archive.libranet.com/archive/libranet/ hemlock main

deb http://archive.libranet.com/archive/libranet/ hemlock-updates main
# deb-src http://archive.libranet.com/archive/libranet/ hemlock-updates main

deb http://archive.libranet.com/archive/libranet/ hemlock-security main
# deb-src http://archive.libranet.com/archive/libranet/ hemlock-security main



My apt/preferences file looks like this:

Explanation: Libranet APT Configuration
Explanation: File: /etc/apt/preferences
Explanation:
Explanation: Removing or changing entries in this file will prevent use of the
Explanation: Libranet archive.
Explanation:
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=experimental
Pin-Priority: 1

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 50

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=testing
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=stable
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: *
Pin: release o=Libranet
Pin-Priority: 900

I'm assuming that the reason the -t unstable switch did not have any effect in my apt-get command was that I have no unstable source line in my sources.list.

I used to take a lot of comfort from using the Libranet-safe archives. I never needed anything "cutting edge." But with Libranet as a company pretty much defunk now, maybe that's no longer a tenable approach. Time to "cut the umbilical cord?" My questions are:

What should I do with my sources list? Should I change them to stable, testing, and unstable?

Can I change that pinning, so that the LN archives don't get first dibs?

Would this help in trying to get gphoto2 latest version, so her camera will work?

Thanks very much.

[bluesdog]

Choices:

1. Upgrade system to testing/unstable

2. Use backports

I chose 1, quite some time ago, and although there were a few scary moments, on the whole I have no regrets. There are a few things to watch out for -- with such a massive upgrade things like xserver tend to break. But if you are prepared to do a bit of research, and are comfortable with the CLI, you can update and reconfigure stuff fairly easily.

If you just need one or two applications from testing or unstable to run on basically a sarge/stable box, you could try backports (http://backports.org/).
There are good instructions on how to modify both /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/preferences, although you don't really need to alter the preferences file if you are just grabbing one or two packages.

[ryancw]

I see that the backports link you provided does indeed offer a sufficiently new version of gphoto2. So that might be a good solution.

What would be the difference between using backports, and doing the following:

using LIbranet Adminmenu to :
add a reference to the unstable distribution to my apt sources.list.
update sources
search gphoto2
look at Versions, and find the 2.2.0 version in unstable
"Force version" to use the unstable version

I did the above last night, all the way up to, but not including, the actual execution of the download/install. Adminmenu offered to get the me the neccessary version of gphoto2, and it also required one addition library--I think it was called libcdk5. It didn't give me any warnings.

Will the Libranet Adminmenu package manager give me warnings if an unstable package I propose to install will conflict with what's already on my computer (generally "stable" stuff?)

[ryancw]

Acutally, my mistake--backports has gphoto2 version 2.1.6--not the 2.2 that I need for the camera.

[fos]

Have you tried digikam?

It works ok with an Olympus C-3030 that I use.

fos....

[ryancw]

As far as I know, digikam and gtkam are both just front-ends to gphoto2 and its associated libraries. Gphoto2 is the limiting step, and the version I can get safely and easily in stable is too old for my new camera.

My other option is to get an SD card reader that I can plug into my usb hub. Anyone have a card reader that works well with LN3 stock?

[bluesdog]

For updating anything other than adminmenu/libranet stuff, adminmenu invokes the synaptic package front-end to apt.

You can bypass adminmenu to start synaptic, from the synaptic package manager icon in your menu > system > package manager (synaptic package manager) It will ask for root password.

In synaptic, you can configure the display -- Preferences > General: check Ask to confirm changes that also affect other packages, and make sure always ask is selected for system upgrade and reloading outdated package information.
Under Columns and fonts, check as many as you want, and you can customize the fonts used here too.

Examine the dependencies tab in the lower window for information.

When you select an package for upgrade, the system will notify you if there are any other required packages, if any will be removed, and, depending on your /etc/apt/preferences may notify you that upgrading the package is not permitted.

If all checks out ok, it is generally safe to proceed with the package upgrade.

gphoto2 depends on libc6 >= version 2.3.5-1, libexif12, libgphoto2-2 >= version 2.1.6-6, and libpop0 >=version 1.7

If you are feeling excessively paranoid, you can use synaptic's search function to examine each of the noted dependent packages, but in my experience synaptic prevents really bad things from happening to your computer, and will inform you about what exactly will be updated/installed/removed, giving you a chance to back out.

[ryancw]

Thanks, that's more or less the way I have been using synaptic. But I will have to study some of the details you provide.

For what it's worth, I went with the USB card reader solution. Bought a Secure Digital and MultiMedia one-slot USB 2.0 card reader at Circuit City for $16, tax included. It defaults to USB 1.1, which is all my computer supports. Put in the SD card from the camera, inserted the reader into my USB hub, and it mounted automatically under /media, enabling me to access the photos and videos easily, with any file manager or with gthumb.

Turns out that gphoto2 version 2.1.6, which I got via backports.org, does indeed list my C330 Kodak as a supported camera. It picked up that cameral OK, but it still did not access the photos on the card, only the internal memory.

[bluesdog]

Glad you got it sorted.

On reflection I'm not sure you could actually safely install gphoto2 from unstable on a stable system, or if synaptic would even allow it.

As I mentioned, I've gradually updated my working box from LN 3.0 to mainly debian testing/unstable, with relatively few problems.
My major headache has been with the Nvidia drivers, and I'm still hesitant to update to the latest xorg in testing, simply because I'm too busy right now to spend time fixing things if it breaks..

:?

[ryancw]

What do your /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/preferences files look like?