Re: Automatically purging non-official packages
On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:36:19 -0400, Tom H wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 8:53 AM, Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> That applies to non-Debian repositories but not to PPAs that's
>>> probably why Ubunical created "apt-add-repository" with which you can
>>> add any repository including PPAs and VirtualBox to
>>> "/etc/apt/sources.d/" along with its corresponding gpg key but limited
>>> itself to "ppa-purge" rather than increasing the complexity of its
>>> removal script with "apt-purge-repository" (which is what the OP wants
>>> to do).
>>
>> I don't know how Ubuntu works in this regard (I mean, what are the
>> inners of their PPA infrastructure) but speaking for Debian and I don't
>> like the idea of letting a script to remove/downgrade
>> packages/libraries and make "its best guesses" on how to proceed.
>>
>> Although on systems running the stable branch can be less traumatic
>> because dependencies there are more contained, I'm still very hesitant
>> of using such a tool unless it's to be run on a system for testing
>> purposes.
>
> If Debian had PPAs, I'd be happy to use ppa-purge. You might hit bugs,
> like an earlier poster has, but every app has bugs. Although it isn't a
> bug in apt-get/aptitude's case, they both try to remove a big chunk of
> the installed packages if, for example, you ask them to remove something
> that GNOME considers essential. Unlike ppa-purge, they both warn you
> about what they're about to do.
I don't fear for a buggy application but what is aimed to/designed for.
What ppa-purge does (being buggy coded or perfectly engineered), its own
concept is something dangerous, in the same way it is updating a system
"blindly".
> PPAs aren't meant for production boxes - certainly not for servers (I
> even wonder whether there's anything in them that's X-less) although
> there are probably many Ubuntu users who use them on their main
> desktop/laptop - because PPAs are used to install packages that aren't
> in the official repositories.
I know that PPA repositories are very much appreciated by Ubuntu users
because they provide an easy way of having packages which are not
available at the usual repositories (and thus avoiding the needing to
compile them) but I neither like the idea of installing packages from
external sources (external → non official repos) and when I have to use a
specific package which is not provided by Debian (e.g., I need an
application to monitor the UPS units and another one to control the
status of the raid controller and both packages are provided by the
manufacturer) there is little chance that I am going to allow any
operation (upgrading/removing/reinstalling/downgrading) over these
packages because I can't foresee the result.
Anyway, I fully agree with your opinion that ppa-purge can be useful for
non-critical, testing (non-production) systems or a machine dedicated for
development but nothing I would run on my day to day machines.
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
Reply to: