[Linux-disciples] xargs

[Stephen R Laniel]

I've not schooled myself sufficiently on xargs, but now I am (I'm always
at least a month behind Adam's advice, sometimes substantially more). I'm
trying to upgrade all the mozilla* packages that are already installed,
using

dpkg --get-selections '*mozilla*' |igv 'deinstall\|purge' |cut -f1 | xargs sudo apt-get install -t unstable

That seems to do what I want, but it also seems to be sending along a
spurious 'n'. Try out that command on your machine and you'll see what I
mean: it passes along the right set of arguments to 'apt'. Then when apt
asks whether to continue, it quickly says 'n' and aborts. Any idea why?

-- 
``As Dick and Jane lay down in the back of Dick's sport utility
  vehicle, Spot ate the spicy stew. He wanted to help. Spot knew Jane was
  a racist who saw the stew as a symbol of Dick's ethnicity. He also knew
  it added to her deep-seated feelings of shame.''
 -http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2003/11/07kennedy.html/