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Bug#411280: marked as done (apt-get actually works (sometimes?) better than aptitude)

Your message dated Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:48:34 -0700
with message-id <[🔎] 20100818064833.GC30598@dario.dodds.net>
and subject line Re: Bug#411280: apt-get actually works (sometimes?) better than aptitude
has caused the Debian Bug report #411280,
regarding apt-get actually works (sometimes?) better than aptitude
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

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-- 
411280: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=411280
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact owner@bugs.debian.org with problems
--- Begin Message --- 
Package: release-notes
Severity: normal

While upgrading my desktop from sarge to etch today, I noticed that the
recommended aptitude command line fails to work, while apt-get just
works giving an acceptable solution. This is after I've already upgraded
aptitude and the dependencies it pulled in (libc, and removing my
running kernel).

Please find attached the list of currently installed packages with
versions, the output of aptitude -f dist-upgrade, and the output of
apt-get dist-upgrade (sorry, it's by /usr/bin/script, which enters
garbage in which you need to skip).

Of course, this is just one single data-point, I don't know how
representative this is.

--Jeroen

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.8-3-k7
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

-- 
Jeroen van Wolffelaar
Jeroen@wolffelaar.nl (also for Jabber & MSN; ICQ: 33944357)
http://Jeroen.A-Eskwadraat.nl

Attachment: apt-get.gz
Description: Binary data

Attachment: aptitude.gz
Description: Binary data

Attachment: apt-show-versions.gz
Description: Binary data


--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message --- 
On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 12:37:13AM +0900, Osamu Aoki wrote:
> So far, ease of "hold" feature of aptitude is the missing feature for
> apt-get command line.  Writing /etc/apt/preferences by hand to hold
> a package is quite cumbersome....  If "apt-get hold ..." creates a file
> in /etc/apt/preferences.d, maybe difference is smaller but this is not
> so important.

'aptitude hold' is mentioned several times in the release notes, so we won't
entirely eliminate mention of aptitude here.

However, for the most part apt-get is a much safer recommendation than
aptitude for dist-upgrades, so I've applied the attached patch to the
release-notes svn.  Corrections are welcome.  (Note that there are
particular steps involved in an upgrade from lenny to squeeze, such as
kernel+udev+bootloader manual handling, which are not yet documented here
and will need to be before release.)

> If you have time, please check my updated Debian Reference. I borrowed
> much of your idea.  I just do not want to have gross misunderstanding.

>   http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_literal_apt_get_literal_literal_apt_cache_literal_vs_literal_aptitude_literal

> I did notice constant breakage of aptitude resolver. So I put them as
> following note for people to understand situation:

> Note

> Although the aptitude command comes with rich features such as its
> enhanced package resolver, this complexity had caused (or may still
> causes) some regressions such as Bug #411123, Bug #514930, and Bug
> #570377. In case of doubts, please use the apt-get and apt-cache
> commands over the aptitude command.

This looks good to me - thanks!

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com                                     vorlon@debian.org

=== modified file 'en/about.dbk'
--- en/about.dbk	2009-02-08 17:36:07 +0000
+++ en/about.dbk	2010-08-18 06:40:11 +0000
@@ -73,18 +73,18 @@
 <para>
 
 <programlisting condition="fixme">
-TODO: check status of #494028 about apt-get vs. aptitude
 TODO: any more things to add here?
 </programlisting>
 
 The status of your package database before and after the upgrade:
 <command>dpkg</command>'s status database available at
 <filename>/var/lib/dpkg/status</filename> and
-<command>aptitude</command>'s package state information, available at
-<filename>/var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates</filename>.  You should have
-made a backup before the upgrade as described at <xref
-linkend="data-backup"/>, but you can also find backups of this
-information in <filename>/var/backups</filename>.
+<systemitem role="package">apt</systemitem>'s package state information,
+available at <filename>/var/lib/apt/extended_states</filename>.  You
+should have made a backup before the upgrade as described at
+<xref linkend="data-backup"/>, but you can also find backups of
+<filename>/var/lib/dpkg/status</filename> in
+<filename>/var/backups</filename>.
 </para>
 </listitem>
 <listitem>

=== modified file 'en/upgrading.dbk'
--- en/upgrading.dbk	2009-09-18 19:25:30 +0000
+++ en/upgrading.dbk	2010-08-18 06:40:11 +0000
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@
 <para>
 The main things you'll want to back up are the contents of
 <filename>/etc</filename>, <filename>/var/lib/dpkg</filename>,
-<filename>/var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates</filename> and the output of
-<literal>dpkg --get-selections "*"</literal> (the quotes are important).
+<filename>/var/lib/apt/extended_states</filename> and the output of
+<literal>dpkg --get-selections "*"</literal> (the quotes are important).  If
+you use <command>aptitude</command> to manage packages on your system, you
+will also want to back up <filename>/var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates</filename>.
 </para>
 <para>
 The upgrade process itself does not modify anything in the
@@ -325,13 +327,13 @@
 upgraded.
 </para>
 <para>
-The <quote>hold</quote> package state for <command>aptitude</command> can be changed using:
+The <quote>hold</quote> package state for <command>apt-get</command> can be changed using:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude hold <replaceable>package_name</replaceable>
+# echo <replaceable>package_name</replaceable> hold | dpkg --set-selections
 </screen>
 <para>
-Replace <literal>hold</literal> with <literal>unhold</literal> to unset the
+Replace <literal>hold</literal> with <literal>install</literal> to unset the
 <quote>hold</quote> state.
 </para>
 <para>
@@ -403,10 +405,12 @@
 <section id="handle-conflict">
 <title>Manually unmarking packages</title>
 <para>
-To prevent <command>aptitude</command> from removing some packages that were
+To prevent <command>apt-get</command> from removing some packages that were
 pulled in through dependencies, you need to manually unmark them as
 <emphasis>auto</emphasis> packages.  This includes OpenOffice and Vim for
-desktop installs:
+desktop installs.  <command>apt-get</command> does not provide an interface
+for marking or unmarking <emphasis>auto</emphasis> packages, so you will need
+to use <command>aptitude</command> for this:
 </para>
 <screen>
 # aptitude unmarkauto openoffice.org vim
@@ -585,9 +589,11 @@
 <title>Upgrading packages</title>
 <para>
 The recommended way to upgrade from previous &debian; releases is to
-use the package management tool <command>aptitude</command>.  This program
-makes safer decisions about package installations than running
-<command>apt-get</command> directly.
+use the package management tool <command>apt-get</command>.  In previous
+releases, <command>aptitude</command> was recommended for this purpose, but
+recent versions of <command>apt-get</command> provide equivalent
+functionality and also have shown to more consistently give the desired
+upgrade results.
 </para>
 <para>
 Don't forget to mount all needed partitions (notably the root and
@@ -660,13 +666,8 @@
 This is done by executing:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude update
+# apt-get update
 </screen>
-<para>
-Running this the first time new sources are updated will print out some
-warnings related to the availability of the sources.  These warnings are
-harmless and will not appear if you rerun the command again.
-</para>
 </section>
 
 <section id="sufficient-space">
@@ -688,12 +689,12 @@
 difficult to recover from.
 </para>
 <para>
-Both <command>aptitude</command> and <systemitem role="package">apt</systemitem> will show you
-detailed information of the disk space needed for the installation.  Before
-executing the upgrade, you can see this estimate by running:
+<command>aptitude</command> can show you detailed information of the disk
+space needed for the installation.  Before executing the upgrade, you can see
+this estimate by running:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude -y -s -f --with-recommends dist-upgrade
+# aptitude -y -s -f dist-upgrade
 [ ... ]
 XXX upgraded, XXX newly installed, XXX to remove and XXX not upgraded.
 Need to get xx.xMB/yyyMB of archives. After unpacking AAAMB will be used.
@@ -718,8 +719,8 @@
 <para>
 Remove packages that have been previously downloaded for installation (at
 <filename>/var/cache/apt/archives</filename>).  Cleaning up the package cache by
-running <command>apt-get clean</command> or <command>aptitude clean</command>
-will remove all previously downloaded package files.
+running <command>apt-get clean</command> will remove all previously downloaded
+package files.
 </para>
 </listitem>
 <listitem>
@@ -894,7 +895,7 @@
 <title>Minimal system upgrade</title>
 <para>
 Because of certain necessary package conflicts between &oldreleasename; and &releasename;, running
-<literal>aptitude dist-upgrade</literal> directly will often remove large
+<literal>apt-get dist-upgrade</literal> directly will often remove large
 numbers of packages that you will want to keep.  We therefore recommend a
 two-part upgrade process, first a minimal upgrade to overcome these conflicts,
 then a full <literal>dist-upgrade</literal>.
@@ -903,7 +904,7 @@
 First, run:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude safe-upgrade
+# apt-get upgrade
 </screen>
 <para>
 This has the effect of upgrading those packages which can be upgraded without
@@ -981,7 +982,7 @@
 You are now ready to continue with the main part of the upgrade.  Execute:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude dist-upgrade
+# apt-get dist-upgrade
 </screen>
 <para>
 This will perform a complete upgrade of the system, i.e.  install the newest
@@ -1001,7 +1002,7 @@
 changing the install status of another package will be left at their current
 version (displayed as <quote>held back</quote>).  This can be resolved by either using
 <command>aptitude</command> to choose these packages for installation or by
-trying <literal>aptitude -f install
+trying <literal>apt-get -f install
 <replaceable>package</replaceable></literal>.
 </para>
 </section>
@@ -1015,7 +1016,7 @@
 checking mechanism:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude update
+# apt-get update
 </screen>
 <para>
 The upgrade will have already retrieved and enabled the signing keys for
@@ -1052,15 +1053,15 @@
 <para>
 Sometimes it's necessary to enable the <literal>APT::Force-LoopBreak</literal>
 option in APT to be able to temporarily remove an essential package due to a
-Conflicts/Pre-Depends loop.  <command>aptitude</command> will alert you of this
+Conflicts/Pre-Depends loop.  <command>apt-get</command> will alert you of this
 and abort the upgrade.  You can work around this by specifying the option <literal>-o
-APT::Force-LoopBreak=1</literal> on the <command>aptitude</command> command
+APT::Force-LoopBreak=1</literal> on the <command>apt-get</command> command
 line.
 </para>
 <para>
 It is possible that a system's dependency structure can be so corrupt as to
 require manual intervention.  Usually this means using
-<command>aptitude</command> or
+<command>apt-get</command> or
 </para>
 <screen>
 # dpkg --remove <replaceable>package_name</replaceable>
@@ -1069,7 +1070,7 @@
 to eliminate some of the offending packages, or
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude -f install
+# apt-get -f install
 # dpkg --configure --pending
 </screen>
 <para>
@@ -1101,7 +1102,7 @@
 </screen>
 <para>
 After fixing things up, you should be able to resume the upgrade by repeating
-the previously described <command>aptitude</command> commands.
+the previously described <command>apt-get</command> commands.
 </para>
 <para>
 During the upgrade, you will be asked questions regarding the configuration or
@@ -1168,7 +1169,7 @@
 # apt-cache show linux-image-2.6-686
 </screen>
 <para>
-You should then use <literal>aptitude install</literal> to install it.  Once
+You should then use <literal>apt-get install</literal> to install it.  Once
 this new kernel is installed you should reboot at the next available
 opportunity to get the benefits provided by the new kernel version.
 </para>
@@ -1279,7 +1280,7 @@
 <section id="nownownow">
 <title>Things to do before rebooting</title>
 <para>
-When <literal>aptitude dist-upgrade</literal> has finished, the <quote>formal</quote> upgrade
+When <literal>apt-get dist-upgrade</literal> has finished, the <quote>formal</quote> upgrade
 is complete, but there are some other things that should be taken care of
 <emphasis>before</emphasis> the next reboot.
 </para>
@@ -1803,15 +1804,19 @@
 provides a similar section but the listing it presents might differ.
 </para>
 <para>
-Also, if
-you have used <command>aptitude</command> to manually install packages in &oldreleasename;
+Also, if you have used <command>aptitude</command> or
+<command>apt-get</command> to manually install packages in &oldreleasename;
 it will have kept track of those packages you manually installed and will be
 able to mark as obsolete those packages pulled in by dependencies alone which
-are no longer needed if a package has been removed.  Also,
-<command>aptitude</command>, unlike <command>deborphan</command> will not mark
-as obsolete packages that you manually installed, as opposed to those that were
-automatically installed through dependencies.
-</para>
+are no longer needed if a package has been removed.
+<command>aptitude</command> and <systemitem role="package">apt</systemitem>,
+unlike <command>deborphan</command>, will not mark for removal packages that
+you manually installed, as opposed to those that were automatically
+installed through dependencies.  To remove automatically installed packages
+that are no longer used, run:
+<screen>
+# apt-get autoremove
+</screen>
 <para>
 There are additional tools you can use to find obsolete packages such as
 <command>deborphan</command>, <command>debfoster</command> or

=== modified file 'en/whats-new.dbk'
--- en/whats-new.dbk	2009-08-23 20:03:32 +0000
+++ en/whats-new.dbk	2010-08-18 06:40:11 +0000
@@ -327,24 +327,13 @@
 <section id="pkgmgmt">
 <title>Package management</title>
 
-<programlisting condition="fixme">
-TODO: is aptitude always prefered over apt-get?
-</programlisting>
-
-<para>
-The preferred program for package management from the command line is
-<command>aptitude</command>, which can perform the same package
-management functions as <command>apt-get</command> and has proven to be
-better at dependency resolution. If you are still using
-<command>dselect</command>, you should switch to <systemitem
-role="package">aptitude</systemitem> as the official front-end for package
-management.
-</para>
-<para>
-For &releasename; an advanced conflict resolving mechanism has been
-implemented in <command>aptitude</command> that will try to find the
-best solution if conflicts are detected because of changes in
-dependencies between packages.
+<para>
+The preferred program for interactive package management from a terminal is
+<command>aptitude</command>.  For a non-interactive command line interface
+for package management, it is recommended to use <command>apt-get</command>.
+If you are still using <command>dselect</command>, you should switch to
+<systemitem role="package">aptitude</systemitem> as the official front-end
+for package management.
 </para>
 
 <programlisting condition="fixme">
@@ -381,7 +370,7 @@
   <programlisting>deb     &url-debian-mirror-eg;/debian &releasename;-proposed-updates main contrib
 deb-src &url-debian-mirror-eg;/debian &releasename;-proposed-updates main contrib</programlisting>
   <para>
-    The next time you run <command>aptitude update</command>, the
+    The next time you run <command>apt-get update</command>, the
     system will become aware of the packages in the
     <literal>proposed-updates</literal> section and will consider them
     when looking for packages to upgrade.
@@ -418,7 +407,7 @@
 using:
 </para>
 <screen>
-# aptitude install selinux-basics
+# apt-get install selinux-basics
 </screen>
 <para>
 Note that SELinux support is <emphasis>not</emphasis> enabled by default.

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