[LUNI] Using (Debian) Unstable packages in Woody

[Kelly Martin]

Robert C. Ramsdell wrote:
> I've recently gotten my Debian Stable box up and running.  However, I find
> that some packages I need (notably printer drivers and Gnucash 1.8.x) are
> only available in Unstable.  Is anybody mixing unstable and woody on the
> same machine, and if so, how has your experience been?  Any hints on how to
> go about it?

This isn't that hard to do by using apt-preferences to pin the unstable 
distribution low enough to keep it from pulling in unstable packages you 
don't need to make the package you want work.  Use "apt-get install 
package/unstable" to get the unstable version after setting up the 
appropriate pins in /etc/apt/preferences.

Another option is to use apt-get source --build package/unstable, which 
will avoid dependency hell in most cases.  (You may have to install a 
lot of devel packages, though.)

Kelly