Re: telling apt-get not to remove potentially useful packages?
On 2013-06-02 23:28:22 +1200, Chris Bannister wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 02, 2013 at 01:12:46AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > On 2013-06-02 07:08:53 +1200, Chris Bannister wrote:
> > > On Sat, Jun 01, 2013 at 03:16:32PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > > > How can I tell apt-get not to break the system by removing
> > > > potentially useful packages?
> > >
> > > By using "apt-get upgrade" instead of "apt-get dist-upgrade"
> >
> > I had problems with "apt-get upgrade" in the past. I don't remember
> > what, but this may be what the apt-get man page describes: "under no
> > circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages
> > not already installed retrieved and installed." This is not what I
> > want. For instance, it should be fine to remove transitional packages.
>
> "apt-get upgrade" should upgrade all possible packages without removing
> any, *then* use "apt-get dist-upgrade", this will allow you to carefully
> review the actions and decide to whether to accept them or not.
I was at the point of doing the second step, and more precisely
"apt-get install apache2" to upgrade apache2 and see what was
proposed since aptitude signaled some broken package in case of
upgrade (apt-get is smarter than aptitude for its default dependency
resolution). After searching a bit, I could decide for apache2.
Sometimes time is more complex, as this can involve several dozens
of packages.
> > > Have you got an example of where this is a concern?
> >
> > For instance, "apt-get dist-upgrade" says that apache2.2-common
> > libapache2-svn will be removed (due to the 2.2 -> 2.4 apache2
> > transition). It is not OK, because libapache2-svn should not be
> > removed. Using "apt-get upgrade" isn't OK either, because if I
> > understand correctly, it will never accept to remove apache2.2-common
> > (as this is a 2.2 related package as its name says).
>
> So you need libapache2-svn, but there is no replacement if you accept
> the 2.2 -> 2.4 apache2 transition?
What I was wondering initially was: is libapache2-svn still needed
(in which case I should wait for a new version) or are its features
integrated in some other package (e.g. from the apache2 source)?
A tool analyzing the dependency system (such as apt-get) could
answer such a question automatically.
--
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <http://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)
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