I was eventually able to make this work by

1. clearing out /var/lib/initramfs-tools per PeteGozz. (Didn't even know that was there. No idea why I needed to clean it out, but it did remove cruft.)

2. using "update-initramfs -k 4.12.0 -ut". Did not work without the -t parameter, even after emptying /var/lib/initramfs-tools. After doing this once, I was able to delete the -t parameter

This has the feeling that perhaps consistency checks have become a little too strict, and might be relaxed to accept a wider variety of invocations while still producing valid results.

xfce only has 1280x1024 resolution

See [SOLVED] XFCE (Really Xorg) Max Resolution Problem

network-manager ends up being installed

Probably pilot error. Somewhere along the line in later installation attempts, network-manager did not end up being installed, even after removing the hold suggested by PeteGozz.

Well, thanks to Pete Gozz, golinux, and miroR

It's always a pleasure when one can be at least somewhat useful...

I read that other topic, don't have any clues...
Just, my best monitor currently is max 1024x768
Ah, never mind.

But just this error:

I had it, even though because of 1) above it may not show, just last night. That will solve once you, possibly (I don't guarrantie it!) install the <whatever the package that did not install properly> with

dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/<that-full-name-binary>

. Duckduckgo.com for it...

Hi PeteGozz,

Thanks for the feedback. Any ideas, pointers, tips on how I can fix up my xfce install?

Thanks,

If you're referring to the resolution issue, try xrandr.  Actually lxrandr has a nice gui selector.

Thanks for the feedback. Any ideas, pointers, tips on how I can fix up my xfce install?

Thanks,

initramfs-tools emits bug message

This _may_ be as simple as /var/lib/initramfs-tools/   uuid records
   not being cleaned up
   by kernel installs/upgrades
  (as you roll your own)

I have been caught by that.

ls /var/lib/initramfs-tools/
ls /boot/init*

maybe a hand run:

1 [root@lenny]: /etc/apt/preferences.d$ update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.11.6-lenny
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/sda3
I: (UUID=9e5238ff-0ece-4e6e-9039-e8952c42b3aa)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.

Which brings me to :

It will also be called whenever anything needs a:
    kernel __module__ new OR updated  (say ext* at least )
          certainly md or btrfs
          or a new blockdev label or uuid
  anything  that may upset grubs world. (yeah I know)
  X nonsense like vid drivers and evdev
  Or firmware updates. Busybox uclib etc.

On random Tuesdays  Full Moons ...

A lot has happened since wheezy so
I am surprised you only got this many issues !

network-manager ends up being installed

I don't know why this happened, but this and network-manager-gnome were both installed. My understanding is that 'upgrade' installs newest versions of currently installed packages while 'dist-upgrade' also installs dependencies. Doesn't seem that either of these should end up installing a package that's not currently installed.

dist-upgrade WILL install extra packages.

I'm guessing but its possibly because xfce => task-*-desktop  (something) pulls it in.
network-manager has a long rev depends list.

(there is probably a more elegant method)

If you can purge it without uninstalling half your system
then do that and try:
(you don't really need most desktop meta-packages any more)

/etc/apt/preferences.d/network-messwithya

that looks something like this:

Package: network-manager
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -15

Package: network-manager
Pin: release o=Devuan
Pin-Priority: -10

test with

$ apt-cache policy network-manager
it *should* report no candidates
e.g.

[root@lenny]: /etc/apt/preferences.d$ apt-cache policy network-manager
network-manager:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: (none)
  Version table:
     1.8.0-5 -10
        500 http://au.mirror.devuan.org/merged ceres/main i386 Packages
     1.6.2-3 -10
        500 http://auto.mirror.devuan.org/merged ascii/main i386 Packages
     0.9.10.0-7+devuan1 -10
        990 http://packages.devuan.org/devuan jessie/main i386 Packages
        990 http://auto.mirror.devuan.org/merged jessie/main i386 Packages

Then when I try to install:

[root@lenny]: /etc/apt/preferences.d$ apt-get install network-manager
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package network-manager is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

You _may_ have to do the same for gnome-network-manager
OR try a regex match

i.e. /network-manager/  *should* match any version.

(and if I were you I would do something similar for grub)

The configuration I'm trying to upgrade is Debian Wheezy. I have no Debian kernel packages. I download kernels from kernel.org and build from source. Network-manager is not installed. I use a custom network configuration and wicd instead. My boot manager is lilo. Grub is not installed.

I used a terminal window from my xfce desktop to do the installation, which at first appeared successful, but which I soon discovered has the following problem areas:

1. initramfs-tools emits bug message

2. xfce only has 1280x1024 resolution

3. network-manager ends up being installed

Cumulatively, these resulted in an unusable desktop and a non-functioning local network configuration serious enough that I needed to drop back to a backup disk image of Wheezy. Here's what I know about these problems:

initramfs-tools emits bug message

When initramfs-tools setup started, these messages were issued:

I tried unsuccessfully (pilot error suspected) to use reportbug to report it.

Trying to install initramfs-tools separately resulted in this error:

First, I don't have kernel 4.11.4 installed. I do have 4.11.7 installed. Second, why is initramfs-tools being run in the first place? I haven't called out for any kernel packages to be installed, so the boot configuration is unchanged.

xfce only has 1280x1024 resolution

Xfce4 gets upgraded from 4.8 to 4.10 (good). When I logged into my upgaded xfce4 desktop, I found that it was set at 1280x1024. My display has 1920x1080 capability, which was being used prior to the upgrade. Running 'xfce4-display-settings' did not offer the option of 1920x1080. Furthermore, I found that my displays.xml file had been modified to change name="Default" with Resolution of 1920x1080 to name="active" (I think), then *append* a name="Default" set of properties with a max Resolution of 1280x1024. Running "xfce4-display-settings" did not allow me to increase the resolution above 1280x1024, even though the former "Default" Resolution continued show as 1920x1280.

My understanding is the it is conventional *not* to modify user specified settings. Getting back to a full display capability is something I need to be able to do before entering the fray once more.

network-manager ends up being installed

I don't know why this happened, but this and network-manager-gnome were both installed. My understanding is that 'upgrade' installs newest versions of currently installed packages while 'dist-upgrade' also installs dependencies. Doesn't seem that either of these should end up installing a package that's not currently installed.

Anyway, I need to know how to keep Network Manager out of my system in order to be able to proceed.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks,