Bug#929003: release-notes: Provide specific instructions to remove obsolete packages
Karl O. Pinc wrote:
> Yes. But you do "Preparing for the next release" _after_ upgrade.
> My suggestion is to _also_ tell people to get rid of obsolete
> packages before they start to upgrade.
Ah, now I see where it fits. Okay, revised patch.
> Maybe the problem is in the title "Preparing for the next release"
> because it's really about cleaning up after the previous release.
> Even so, the instructions should allow for people who are untidy
> for whatever reason. (And it's theoretically possible that
> obsolete packages would disturb the upgrade process, yes?)
> It seems worth an extra sentence.
Yes, there's no guarantee that the packagename won't have been grabbed
by some completely different piece of software - see for instance the
case of the name "chromium", which was a game in Lenny, left unused in
Squeeze, and a web browser in Wheezy.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
diff --git a/en/upgrading.dbk b/en/upgrading.dbk
index 30e138ab..97591735 100644
--- a/en/upgrading.dbk
+++ b/en/upgrading.dbk
@@ -308,6 +308,10 @@ $ apt-forktracer | sort
<emphasis>stable</emphasis> or <emphasis>&releasename;</emphasis>; see
<xref linkend="old-sources"/>.
</para>
+ <para>
+ It is a good idea to <link linkend="obsolete">remove obsolete
+ packages</link> from your system before upgrading.
+ </para>
<section id="proposed-updates">
<title>The proposed-updates section</title>
@@ -1266,8 +1270,8 @@ Errors were encountered while processing:
can also use the following alternative to the commands above:
</para>
<screen>
-$ aptitude search '~c'
-$ aptitude purge '~c'
+# aptitude search '~c'
+# aptitude purge '~c'
</screen>
</section>
@@ -1295,11 +1299,16 @@ $ aptitude purge '~c'
case, packages might still be present in the <quote>unstable</quote> distribution.
</para>
<para>
- Detecting which packages in an updated system are <quote>obsolete</quote> is easy since the
- package management front-ends will mark them as such. If you are using
- <command>aptitude</command>, you will see a listing of these packages in the
- <quote>Obsolete and Locally Created Packages</quote> entry.
+ Some package management front-ends provide easy ways of finding installed
+ packages that are no longer available from any known repository. The
+ <command>aptitude</command> text user interface lists them in the category
+ <quote>Obsolete and Locally Created Packages</quote>, and they can be listed
+ and purged from the commandline with:
</para>
+ <screen>
+# aptitude search '~o'
+# aptitude purge '~o'
+ </screen>
<para>
The <ulink url="&url-bts;">Debian Bug Tracking System</ulink>
often provides additional information on why the package was removed. You
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