Re: Debian /etc/apt/sources.list

[Clive Menzies <clive@clivemenzies.co.uk>]

On (20/10/06 13:54), Florian Kulzer wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 20, 2006 at 12:03:04 +0100, Clive Menzies wrote:
> > On (20/10/06 10:45), Olafur Jens Sigurdsson wrote:
> > > Þann 2006-10-20, 11:21:19 (+0100) skrifaði Clive Menzies:
> > > > On (20/10/06 10:57), Andrew Small wrote:
> > > > > I use the command apt-get to keep my system up to date.  The list of
> > > > > repositories I use to get updated 
> > > > > 
> > > > > packages is kept in /etc/apt/sources.list.  I already have a particular
> > > > > package installed which I do not want
> > > > > to update.
> > > > > 
> > > > > How do I get apt-get to ignore updating this package when it is invoked
> > > > > on the command line?
> > > > > Is it possible to put the package name in the sources.list file etc.
> > > > > This would be really useful so that if someone
> > > > > else is managing the system they do not have to be aware that this
> > > > > package should be ignored.
> > > > 
> > > > I use aptitude which has a hold option
> > > >  aptitude hold <packages>...
> > > > 
> > > > I just checked the apt-get man page and couldn't see an equivalent but
> > > > someone else may confirm it works.  If not apt-get should respect
> > > > aptitude's 'wishes'.
> > > 
> > > Isnt this a job for "pinning"? :-)
> > 
> > I don't think so.  I believe pinning is used where you're using
> > packages from different releases.  It would be overkill for holding one
> > package.
> 
> I believe that "hold", "forbid upgrade to specific version" and "mark
> auto" are aptitude-only features. The relevant information is stored in
> /var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates and I don't think that apt-get reads this
> file.
> 
> I always had to use pinning with apt-get if a newer version of a package
> had a bug, otherwise "apt-get upgrade" would blindly install that
> version. It is indeed a pain in the neck to use pinning like that; this
> was one of the reasons for me to switch to aptitude. Of course, it could
> be that apt-get has learned a few new tricks since I last used it, but I
> have the impression that development is focused on aptitude these days.

Thanks for the clarification :)

It would seem, Andrew, your options are use aptitude or if you stick to
apt-get, pinning is the way to go.  I find aptitude pretty powerful and
you can use it at the command line in similar fashion to apt-get.

Regards

Clive

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