Re: oddity in apt-cache
On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 13:47:50 -0700, Freddy Freeloader wrote:
> Florian Kulzer wrote:
[...]
>> I think many people would not like it if apt-cache no longer found the
>> local packages, custom kernels, etc. If a package is still installed
>> then its information is included in apt's package cache, and "apt-cache"
>> bases all its results on this cache. It does not query the repositories
>> at all but it gets this information indirectly whenever you run "apt-get
>> update" (or aptitude, etc.).
>>
>> If you want to run queries on what is available in the repositories you
>> will probably have to use "apt-file" or "rmadison" (from package
>> "devscripts").
>>
>>
> Thanks Florian,
>
> I guess, then, I just use "apt-cache search" differently than most people
> do, or even the way it was intended to be used. I use it to find available
> packages and it has always worked for me until today as I usually run
> apt-get update on a daily basis. I have never even thought of using it to
> find something installed locally because to me it makes no sense to use it
> that way as it gives you no way to know if a package is installed. If I
> want to find out if something is locally installed I use "dpkg -l | grep
> relevant_string". That tells me the package's installation status.
[...]
I think I did not make myself very clear: I also use apt-cache like you
do (mostly since it seems to be faster than "aptitude search" for simple
queries). I don't think that there is anything wrong with that; you just
have to be aware that all installed packages are also included in the
search, even if some of them have meanwhile been removed from the
repositories.
--
Regards, | http://users.icfo.es/Florian.Kulzer
Florian |
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