downgrading firefox3 (iceweasel) to 2 in debian lenny

Question

How do i downgrade iceweasel 3 to 2 in lenny? I tried to use pinning but i think something went wrong (maybe with version i wrote in /etc/apt/preferences) and now 'there's no package available' when i try to apt-get install iceweasel

Package: iceweasel
Pin: version 2.0.0.14-2
Pin-Priority: 1001

Answer 1

You're probably getting "no package available" because the version you've specified isn't actually available in the stable (Lenny) repository, and your sources.list file probably doesn't include the oldstable (Etch) repository.

But I wouldn't add the old repository immediately. Instead, download the Etch binary from the link and try to install it manually:

$ sudo dpkg -i iceweasel_2.0.0.19-0etch1_i386.deb

If you run into dependency problems, purge that package (sudo apt-get purge iceweasel) and make a choice:

• Enable the oldstable repository and install with aptitude, which might downgrade other packages while attempting to satisfy dependencies; or

• Grab the sources (also available from the Etch link, in the right-hand sidebar), install the build prerequisites, and compile your own version of the package.

Whichever route you decide on, your "Hold" should now work.