Re: update-alternatives

[Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com>]

On Wed, 16 May 2012 09:28:08 +0200, Johann Spies wrote:

> On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 04:44:28PM +0200, Camaleón wrote:
> 
> 
>> And what's what you want to get exactly?
>> 
>> > So what does the --auto option do otherwise than showing me what I
>> > have already seen in the --config screen?
>> 
>> It does exactly what the man page says :-)
>> 
>> --auto link
>> Switch  the  master  symlink link to automatic mode.  In the process,
>> this symlink and its slaves are updated to point to the highest  pri‐
>> ority installed alternatives.
> 
> What I did not understand previously from the manpage is what determines
> 'highest priority'.  I was under the impression that one can change that
> with update-alternatives and I did not realise that it was a by-product
> of the packaged alternatives' installation.

"Priorities" is a package (and also a repository) concept. 

What "update-alternatives" allows is setting the default aplication when 
several programs provide the same funcionality (e.g., browsers, text 
editors, java virtual machines...) but you can't alter the priorities 
from here.

More info:
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianAlternatives

> After the explanation on the list and reading the man page again, this
> became clear to me.
> 
> Even though technically correct, it did not help me on the first (and
> second read) to understand it correctly although I am an experienced
> Debian user and was system administrator for 10 years.

If you were not used to update-alternatives it's normal to be confused by 
the internals... in the end, is not a tool you have to deal with every 
day, thus become easy to forget even for long time linux users :-)

P.S. Wow... that was a big signature.

Greetings,

-- 
Camaleón