Re: How to track *part* of unstable?

[Bill Jonas <bill@billjonas.com>]

On Sun, Dec 24, 2000 at 12:23:53PM +1030, Mark Phillips wrote:
> The only problem with this is that every time you change the
> sources.list file and run apt-get update, it takes ages downloading
> package files that you usually have already downloaded before, but
> were discarded through an earlier sources.list change.  This is a
> waste of time and bandwidth.  My solution is to do this:

There's an easier way.  :)

       --list-cleanup
              This option defaults to on,  use  --no-list-cleanup
              to turn it off.  When on apt-get will automatically
              manage  the  contents  of  /var/state/apt/lists  to
              ensure  that  obsolete  files  are erased. The only
              reason to turn it off is if you  frequently  change
              your     source    list.     Configuration    Item:
              APT::Get::List-Cleanup

I used this when I was still on dialup, before I got DSL.  Especially nice
when you run stable and often want to see what version of a package is in
unstable, or you want to see if there's a package in unstable that's not
in stable.

Just put the following line in /etc/apt/apt.conf:
APT::Get::List-Cleanup "false";

(I forget the exact syntax; I don't have that machine anymore, and I
haven't put it on the one I'm using now, but see "man apt.conf" and play
around if the above doesn't work.)

Hope that helps!  And Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and Happy
$WINTER_HOLIDAY if you don't.

-- 
Bill Jonas                | "In contrast to the What You See Is What You
bill@billjonas.com        |  Get (WYSIWYG) philosophy, UNIX is the You
http://www.billjonas.com/ |  Asked For It, You Got It operating system."
http://www.debian.org/    |  --Scott Lee, as quoted by Lamb and Robbins