Re: switching from apt-get to aptitude
On (16/05/06 11:53), Rick Reynolds wrote:
> I've googled this quite a bit and found various web pages praising
> aptitude as a "better apt-get". But I've also seen cautions about
> mixing the two.
>
> I'm running a testing installation that has been in place for nearly two
> years -- all the while maintained via apt-get. I've even written a
> shell wrapper around apt-get to log what gets installed. But the above
> mentioned sites make switching over to aptitude sound good.
>
> I can't seem to find a definitive answer on whether or not this is a
> good idea. And I haven't found any kind of howto for doing the switch
> well. I have seen some sites that indicate aptitude may attempt to
> remove lots of packages on the first run after such a switch-over. If
> it's just a start-up kind of problem, can this be worked around? (i.e.
> marking packages in some way that means "no, really! I've installed
> that and want to keep it!")
>
> Any advice, or perhaps pointers to better articles than what I've found?
Aptitude is a front end to apt and offers suggestions to stop you
installing broken packages and other useful functions.
I use aptitude and apt-listbugs to maintain my two sid systems and have
kept out of serious trouble as a result.
The problem with mixing aptitude with apt is that aptitude will
sometimes threaten to remove packages it thinks are dependencies becuase
it wasn't used to install them. However, you can override its
suggestions. If you use it exclusively, it won't threaten to do so,
unless you use Shift-M
Once you've switched, you won't regret it :) I see apt-get as the macho
way to update your system ..... <ducks quickly>
Regards
Clive
--
www.clivemenzies.co.uk ...
...strategies for business
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