Re: What is Synaptic trying to tell me?
On Thu 18 Jan 2018 at 15:13:12 (-0600), Richard Owlett wrote:
> I've been exploring the idea of downloading several packages.
> When I select "apply" it routinely says "1 package will be held back
> and not upgraded" in the lower half of a screen titled "Summary (as
> superuser)".
>
> In both the upper and lower half of that screen I can discover what
> packages will be downloaded I can click appropriately and be
> informed that a list of packages will be downloaded. They are always
> what I wanted/expected. So far, so good ;/
>
> Today I got curious.
> In the lower half of the screen I clicked the button labeled "Show
> Details". It listed *ONLY* the expected/intended files.
>
> In the upper half of the screen I observed that clicking on the ">"
> labeled "To be installed" I observed the same files as listed in
> response to "Show Details".
>
> *HOWEVER* when clicking on the ">" labeled "Unchanged" it listed
> "linux-image-686-pae". Why? Less than 2 weeks ago I chose to install
> the i386 flavor of current point release of Stretch. I was using
> "Expert Install" and IIRC that was the default.
>
> For years I've gotten the "1 package will be held back and not
> upgraded" message. That response is obviously release independent.
> Previous installs have been from purchased DVD sets.
>
> This is the *FIRST* time I have attempted to investigate what is
> being held back.
>
> Please educate me ;/
Packages are normally held back when upgrading them would involve
removing a package or installing a new one, and that is forbidden
by the upgrade method you're using.
So, for example, apt-get dist-upgrade was recently needed to upgrade
linux-image against Meltdown because a new package was being
installed. (Substitute "apt-get dist-upgrade" accordingly.)
BTW when installing a kernel image (and related packages), you should
select the least specific generic package (like linux-image-686-pae)
rather than the versioned one. Because the new kernel was a new
package (-4 → -5), it wouldn't be seen as an upgrade except as a
dependency of the generic package.
Cheers,
David.
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