How do I get apt-get to ignore some dependencies?

Simple and easy solution: just specify the unwanted packages with an extra - after each of them.

Example without the - switch:

root@debian:~# apt-get install bsd-mailx 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light liblockfile-bin liblockfile1
[...]

Example using the switch to avoid installing exim4-base. Notice the - at the end:

root@debian:~# apt-get install bsd-mailx exim4-base-
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package 'exim4-base' is not installed, so not removed
The following extra packages will be installed:
  liblockfile-bin liblockfile1 ssmtp
[...]

As you can see, apt-get does not try anymore to install the exim4-base package, and it does not try to install its various dependencies (exim4-config etc).

And if you were wrong and needed that exim4-base dependency after all, you can just apt-get install it later!

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