Re: Package splitting and upgrades

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>]

On Fri, 01 Mar 2002, Josip Rodin wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 01, 2002 at 11:29:07AM -0300, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:
> > > Actually, we have so far recommended _everyone_ to use apt-get dist-upgrade
> > > for cross-release upgrades, not just the advanced users, i.e. those who
> > > don't mind getting their hands dirty. (Note that I was the release notes
> > > maintainer for slink->potato.)
> > 
> > We did so in error. It is time to write that down in the release notes.
[...]
> Fact remains, there are dist-upgrade and upgrade commands, they're the best
> we had. If you thought differently, why didn't you speak up two years ago?

Because two years ago I didn't know this, or I would have. I came to know
the full story of apt-get and recommends/suggests not too much time ago.  I
suspect many other developers are in the same boat.

> We chose the best options of those available, that was not an error.

Well, according to the apt-get maintainer, it was. I disagree with him, and
I think apt-get should change its charter, but I am NOT the apt maintainer,
nor do I consider myself capable of doing his work. My opinion in the matter
is worth very little.

> > apt-get simply will not cut it BY DESIGN. I dislike this (I wish it would, I
> > like command-line tools), but such is life.
> 
> And there's oodles of people who will say that dselect will not cut it by
> design, either.

Well, I have been using it for years, and while it has the worst interface I
have ever seen, it works.  It's being de-braindamaged slowly but steadly as
of lately; but its design is really bad.

Maybe aptitude is better.  Maybe someone has to write a better command-line
tool to do a superset of apt-get's current capabilities. But that won't be
me, I don't have the time, and I suspect I don't have the skills (right now) 
either :(

-- 
  "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh