Re: How do I put a package on hold without using dselect?

[Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>]

Phillip Deackes <gsmh@gmx.net> writes:

> I regularly update my system using apt-get. Occasionally, however, I
> might want to hold back a package (exim, at the moment). Can I do this
> other than by using dselect? I have scoured the dpkg and apt-get man
> pages and can't see a way to do it.

Here's a nice little script.  It would be nice to have it added to a
package somewhere, but I'm not sure which one it should go into.

Cheers,

 - Jim


#! /bin/bash

# dpkg-hold  --  command line tool to flag package(s) as held.
#
# by Craig Sanders, 1998-10-26.  This script is hereby placed into the 
# public domain.
#
# BUGS: this script has absolutely no error checking.  this is not good.

if [ -z "$*" ] ; then
	echo "Usage:"
	echo "      dpkg-hold <package...>"
	exit 1
fi

for i in $@ ; do
	echo "$i	hold"
done | dpkg --set-selections