In <[🔎] 20100127131300.GE6468@osamu.debian.net>, Osamu Aoki wrote: >> Do I need to create a prefernce file ?... > >These are tricks to fool APT. Not "fool". Apt, by default, treats all remote repositories in one of two manners "get every package from there" (priority 500) or "get only the packages I request from there" (priority 1 -- backports and experimental). Using pinning, you can communicate to apt your actual preferences of repositories. In my case, try to get all packages from stable+security+volatile, but if you need them to satisfy dependencies or I request a specific version you can pull from backports, testing+volatile+security, unstable, and experimental in that order. >These do not solve the package version >dependency issue. If it happen to be running, you are just lucky. Apt/aptitude will try as much as possible to make sure the various dependencies of all installed packages are satisfied. If they fail, you could be in trouble. If they succeed but something still breaks, you are unlucky (please file a bug). Preferences don't solve package dependency issues in isolation, but aptitude can use the priorities when ranking it's solutions and deciding which packages to upgrade. Once you start pulling in packages from testing/unstable/experimental, you will have to execute a full-upgrade more often, and provide a bit a manual guidance to aptitude, but that's to be expected. >If you can locally backport package, you should try it to be safe. I don't like doing this because I don't like having to provide my own security support. >If >not, it is best not to do this kind of mixed system to avoid problem. Having run a mixed desktop and 2 mixed servers since before Lenny was released, I disagree with this statement. It allows the packages whose development I'm not currently following is remain dependable (pulled from stable or at least testing) while letting me pull packages with new, shiny features that I must try from unstable or experimental. I really do find it to be a best-of-both-worlds situation. My configuration is documented at http://iguanasuicide.net/node/4. -- Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. ,= ,-_-. =. bss@iguanasuicide.net ((_/)o o(\_)) ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy `-'(. .)`-' http://iguanasuicide.net/ \_/
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