Adam Funk wrote: > Thomas Adam wrote: > > dist-upgrade should be used here. > > In what circumstances is 'upgrade' more appropriate than 'dist-upgrade'? The 'upgrade' keeps the list of packages installed on the system exactly the same. It does not allow changes. Topologically the package contour is identical. If a package was installed previously then it is still installed. If a package was not installed previously then it is not installed. Only the versions numbers are allowed to change. The 'dist-uprade' additionally allows the list of packages installed on the machine to change. It allows it to either add more new packages or to remove previously installed packages because of conflicts. The shape of things can change. On a server where you are running 'stable' and are only allowing security updates then 'upgrade' is most appropriate. Debian policy only allows security updates to fix the security issue and does not allow them to change the shape of things. They dependencies cannot change. They cannot pull in new packages, etc. Therefore 'upgrade' is best way to enforce that no functionality on a system is changing. On a desktop running 'unstable' you have accepted that you are living on the cutting edge. Package topography changes can happen with every package upload to unstable. New packages appear. Old ones are replaced. Dependencies change. That does not mean broken but does mean changing. A 'dist-upgrade' is more like 'install' of every already installed package on the system. An 'upgrade' will force the packages to remain the same and as soon as it sees that it needs to pull in a new package it will hold the old ones because it can't pull in a new package. You must use 'dist-upgrade' to when riding the wild bull. The 'dist-upgrade' gets its name because you when changing from one stable release to the next stable release you would use use dist-upgrade to upgrade from one distribution to another. From one release to another many things change. Living on unstable can be like that every day. Bob
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