Vicious Circle of Package Dependencies

[Ted Beaton]

Hey all,

I have been trying to install first Cyrus IMAP and then Courier IMAP and I keep getting tied up in package dependencies.  Some piece I'm installing will require a newer version of a package already on my machine.  I search and find the newer version and try to install it and then there will be 6 or 7 other packages that are dependent on the older version so I need to upgrade them and it goes on and on.  I find myself in a geometrically expanding vicious circle.  I'm sure I'm overlooking something obvious here.  Maybe I shouldn't be trying to install on RedHat 9, maybe I'm leaving something out when I install RedHat 9.  Is there any manageable way to know all of what I need and what all the dependencies are for them at the outset?  Sometimes I can't even find a version of a package required for RedHat 9.  I could force a package to install but I have no idea what problems that may cause later on.  The overall goal is to get the courier-0.46.tar.bz2 tar ball to build and install.  

Anyone know any manageable ways to do this?

Thanks for any/all suggestions,

Ted Beaton