I did a dist-upgrade on my laptop today (running etch), and encountered a couple of errors.

I had to manually force x11-common_6.8.2.dfsg.1-6_all.deb to install, with the --force-overwrite switch or whatever it is, so that it would overwrite the /etc/X11/Xsession file.

That got a bit further, and then I had issues with some symlinks in /etc/X11/xkb/rules, I had to rm all the files that were xfree86.* > xorg.*.

After that, I was able to "-f install".

I tried to install qobex, a tool for bluetooth access to phones, but it relies on newer versions of files than I had installed. When I tried to update a few files, it was just causing more an more dependency issues.

I gave up in the end, I don't really need it anyway.

I'm in the process of getting a vpn account setup, so I can work from home.

I decided to get the vpn client. I went to the Nortel site, and I downloaded version 3.3 of the client, which is a beta, because I couldn't download the stable one, because I needed the login for the Nortel site, which I didn't have.

I sent off an email for someone who did have the login to download it for me.

In the meantime, I tried to compile the beta version:

squigley@laptop:~/downloads/cvc_linux-gcc2-3.3$ make all
cd src && make all
make[1]: Entering directory `/u01/downloads/cvc_linux-gcc2-3.3/src'
cd k2.6 && make
make[2]: Entering directory `/u01/downloads/cvc_linux-gcc2-3.3/src/k2.6'
make[2]: *** No rule to make target `../libmishim-2.6.a', needed by `kmod_build'.  Stop.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/u01/downloads/cvc_linux-gcc2-3.3/src/k2.6'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/u01/downloads/cvc_linux-gcc2-3.3/src'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Great.

I googled around, and all I found was this page, which was of no help at all.

I gave up on that too, thinking I'd just wait until I got the proper version of the client, which might compile.