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Re: Apt-get vs Aptitude vs Apt



On Ma, 11 aug 20, 15:33:53, Javier Barroso wrote:
> 
> I swiched from aptitude to apt-get/apt some years ago
> 
> aptitude need love :(
> 
> My problem was mixing 64 and 32 bits packages. Seem aptitude didn't do a
> good job
> 
> Reading Planet debian and transitions and apt-listbugs (or how It is named)
> , apt update && apt full-upgrade , run perfect in unstable

In my experience[1] 'apt full-upgrade' is rarely needed, even on 
unstable, because 'apt upgrade' allows for new packages (and
'apt autoremove' is needed anyway for removals).

This will take care of most library transitions (e.g. package foo 
depends libbar1 -> libbar2) and packages with the version in their name 
(e.g. linux-image-amd64 depends linux-image-5.6.xx -> 
linux-image-5.7.xx).

The main benefit of aptitude (especially for unstable) is it's 
interactive mode:

 * Easy browsing of packages, (reverse) dependency chains, etc.
 
 * Keeps track of "new" packages, very useful to see what's new in 
   unstable.
 
 * Easy selective disabling of Recommends (or enabling, for those who 
   disable Recommends globally).

 * One step (full-)upgrade and autoremoval of packages (press 'u' to 
   update the package list, 'U' to prepare the full-upgrade, 'g' to 
   inspect the proposed actions and 'g' again to apply).

 * Interactive dependency resolving for when (not if) unstable is 
   broken, with several methods to tweak it (let it search for different 
   solutions, mark specific packages to "keep", etc.).

 * Forbid version, for when (not if) the new version of a package you 
   need has a bug that affects you.
   
   aptitude will then automatically skip to the next version when 
   available (hopefully with the bug fixed, but that's why apt-listbugs 
   exists)

 * possibly more that I forget right now.


And then there's aptitude's search patterns, for which there is 
currently no replacement.

I have aptitude installed on all but the smallest system (aptitude + 
dependencies can be significant for a very small install).

[1] Admittedly my recent experience is only with a smallish install with 
openbox, Kodi and Linux build dependencies (just enough to keep track of 
hardware support for the PINE A64+ and possibly enable some kernel 
options for it that are not enabled in Debian's kernel), though I don't 
expect it to be much worse with a full Desktop Environment install or 
similar.


Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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