Re: Understanding /etc/apt/preferences

[bob@proulx.com (Bob Proulx)]

Mathieu Malaterre wrote:
> I would like to update my sarge system, but keep swig 1.1:
> 
> $ head /etc/apt/preferences

Instead of using preferences for this I would 'hold' the package in
both dpkg and aptitude and then upgrade normally.  Because the package
is held it will show up in the hold list and not be upgraded.  I find
that to be much simpler.

Alternatively for something like swig you could simply let it upgrade
along with everything else and then downgrade it specifically later.
Using 'aptitude download packagename' makes downloading deb files very
easy.

  aptitude download swig

If you do that before upgrading to Etch while still pointing at Sarge
then you would have the Sarge version in the current directory.  After
upgrading to Etch then dpkg will install this easily.

  dpkg -i swig_1.3.24-1_*.deb

Bob