many softwares must be removed for dis-upgrade?

[yalegodman]

hello, I tried to update my system by typing:
apt-get dist-upgrade

Then the system told me that many packages must be updated while many must be removed, including k3b, kdm, ktorrent, etc.

why? I want to keep them.

[agmg]

How much time has passed since you last updated your system?

You are still using KDE version 4.6.5 but the current version is 4.9.2
I think it would be easier for you to reinstall from a current iso (latest 2012.12).

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,110780.msg945690.html#msg945690
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,111103.0.html

[Bald Brick]

It seems that you haven't updated your system for quite some time.

All the 4.6.5 KDE packages are obsolete and should have been replaced by version 4.9.2 long ago (or 4.8.3 on 65 bit). The names of the packages have also changed, so that for instance kdenetwork4-kppp-provider has become kdenetwork-kppp-provider. And before you can upgrade KDE the word "kde4" in the Section(s) line in Synaptic->"Settings"->"Repositories" must be changed to plain "kde". (Updating apt-sources-list should fix that.)

Whether you've waited too long before upgrading KDE is impossible to know, but in any case all parts of version 4.9.2 cannot be installed unless all parts of 4.6.5 are removed.

Also note that before you run apt-get dist-upgrade you should always run apt-get update to update the indexes. But why do you upgrade your system from the command line? Using Synaptic is in most cases easier.

Edit: agmg was faster and he was probably right when he wrote that it could "be easier for you to reinstall from a current iso".

[yalegodman]

Thank you agmg and bald.

Anyway I have successfully upgraded my system. The process is:
1. copy and save the namelist of packages that will be removed;
2. apt-get dist-upgrade;
3. synaptic, search the removed packages, install them again.

Now I rebooted my computer and it seems all is ok except gnumeric (on which I issued a new post ).

[kjpetrie]

How did you manage that, since those packages are no longer in the repo? Either you are using an old, unmaintained mirror or you have them stored locally. Either way, your system is heading for big trouble.

As already stated, the only way to get your system up-to-date is to re-install from the latest ISO image. You should be able to keep your present /home if it's on a separate partition, but back it up first just in case. (You should always keep backups anyway, but it can't be said too often.)