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APT::Default-Release accepts code-names? (long)



Greg Folkert: sorry for the CC, but you kept ignoring my other messages
about this.

Dear all,

In the thread 'smooth upgrades' that was still running a few days ago
there was the question of release names vs. code-names in the
Default-Release option. The docs
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-apt-get.en.html#s-default-version
and 'man apt_preferences' ('man apt.conf' doesn't mention it at all)
only talk about release, but don't exclude code-names specifically.

I thought I should do an experiment:

Let's suppose an etch system, but the user needs (wants) some packages
from unstable or even experimental and no apt.conf

think:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://ftp.ro.debian.org/debian/ etch main

deb http://ftp.ro.debian.org/debian/ sid main

deb http://ftp.ro.debian.org/debian/ experimental main

think:~# cat /etc/apt/apt.conf
cat: /etc/apt/apt.conf: No such file or directory
think:~# apt-cache policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
   1 http://ftp.ro.debian.org experimental/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=experimental,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.ro.debian.org sid/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=unstable,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.ro.debian.org etch/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
Pinned packages:

etch and sid have equal priority. A dist-upgrade will upgrade the
system to sid, but we want to keep it running etch. It was suggested
that if the sources.list uses code-names, than Default-Release should
work with code-names as well.

think:~# echo 'APT::Default-Release "etch";' > /etc/apt/apt.conf
think:~# apt-cache policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
   1 http://ftp.ro.debian.org experimental/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=experimental,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.ro.debian.org sid/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=unstable,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.ro.debian.org etch/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
Pinned packages:

No effect whatsoever! Let's change 'etch' to 'testing'.

think:~# sed -i -e s/etch/testing/ /etc/apt/apt.conf
think:~# apt-cache policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
   1 http://ftp.ro.debian.org experimental/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=experimental,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.ro.debian.org sid/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=unstable,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
 990 http://ftp.ro.debian.org etch/main Packages
     release o=Debian,a=testing,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.ro.debian.org
Pinned packages:

Now 'etch' has priority 990 vs 500 of sid. This will keep the system
running *unstable* (when etch is released apt will want to upgrade to
next testing).

If you don't spot any mistakes in my logic I would like to file a bug
report against the docs to avoid any future confusion.

Regards,
Andrei
-- 
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
(Albert Einstein)



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