apt get

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this may be adequate for all you future needs, apt get can also access archives

over the Internet. While your CDs will never change, the FTP archives are

always being updated. Even the stable release will be updated with packages

that need security fixes, and other serious bugs.

Depending upon how much risk you are willing to take, you can even follow

the latest  unstable  packages using apt get, providing the latest packages

being produced by the Debian developers. However, immediately following

the release of a new  stable  version of Debian, the unstable release tends to

be very unstable and is not suitable for the average user. If you choose to

take this risk, be advised that this could result in the installation of a broken

package that is critical to your system function, making your system unusable.

In addition to the stable and unstable labels, each release has a code name

that does not change as the release progresses from unstable thru frozen to

the stable release. Dwarf recommends that you track stable, by tracking the

named release. For the 2.2 release of Debian this name is potato. The 2.3

release is named woody. Tracking potato, instead of unstable, keeps your

system stable, even after the new release and gives you the choice of when to

upgrade to the new release.

In order to set up apt get to use FTP to retrieve packages from an archive

on the net, first comment out the cdrom: lines. (Comments are formed by

placing a # as the first character in the line.) Then add the following line:

deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian potato main contrib

The ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian term names the archives site on the Internet.

There are many Debian mirrors available throughout the world. Each mirror

will report alternative sites when you log in using an FTP client. Choose one

that is  close  to you on the Internet.

The potato term identifies the release to use within the archives, and the

remaining terms indicate which sections of the archives apt get will search for

packages.