/etc/apt/preferences problem - might cause problems when Sarge goes stable!
I recently started using the /etc/apt/preferences file to get
Firestarter from unstable into my testing install of Sarge. My file
follows:
----------
Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 900
Package: firestarter
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 1100
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -10
----------
A few moments ago I updated my sources.list in preparation for Sarge
going to stable. I changed all references to 'testing' to 'sarge'. I
did this because I do NOT want to automatically upgrade to the new
testing right away, I'll probably stick with Sarge for a few months
after he goes stable. I had to leave the nerim entry as testing and
unstable because he doesn't appear to support the release names. My
sources.list follows:
----------
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian sarge main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US sarge/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ sarge/updates main contrib non-free
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ testing main
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian sid main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US sid/non-US main contrib non-free
deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main
----------
After starting up aptitude I had to update my cache, but after that
everything looked fine. So I edited my /etc/apt/preferences and
changed 'testing' to 'sarge' and 'unstable' to 'sid'. When I started
up aptitude and updated, things weren't right. My installed packages
were listed fine under Installed Packages. But under Uninstalled
Packages everything was listed, even the ones I have installed. For
my installed packages they had their currently installed version
number, but <none> listed as their available version number. All
uninstalled packages had <none> listed for both their available and
installed version numbers.
The conclusion I came to is that /etc/apt/preferences doesn't support
the release specific names (woody, sarge, sid, etc) and only the
generic names (stable, testing, and unstable). So I changed the
entries in my preferences back to testing and unstable as listed
above.
It seems to me that the discrepency between /etc/apt/sources.list and
/etc/apt/preferences could cause some serious problems for people when
Sarge goes stable, especially if they have mixed distros. I don't
have any automated updating, so I'll just have to remember to read the
news before updating every day...that way I can alter the two files
correctly before I update. But for people that have scripts which
automate the update process, they could get fubar'd. Any thoughts?
Ben
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