On Mon, 28 Mar 2022 17:54:23 -0400
Chuck Zmudzinski <brchuckz@netscape.net> wrote:
On 3/28/22 5:35 PM, Ash Joubert wrote:
On 29/03/2022 03:34, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote:
I am new to running the unstable sid distribution. Today I wanted
to upgrade it and when using the dist-upgrade option of apt-get (I
think that's equivalent to the full-upgrade option of apt), I got
this:
[...]> The problem is with the section that lists the packages that
will be
REMOVED.
Yes, this is normal for sid. Unwanted removals are usually a sign
that dependencies are in transition. All sid administrators should
know how to recognise this situation and avoid unwanted removals. I
use:
apt-get -s -V -o Debug::pkgProblemResolver=yes dist-upgrade
to simulate a dist-upgrade to see what is going on and then
"apt-mark hold" to hold packages until I am satisfied that
dist-upgrade can proceed without unwanted removals. I use the
package web page, package tracker, and transition tracker
<https://release.debian.org/transitions/> to help identify the
cause. "apt-mark showhold" lists held packages, which can be unheld
when the transition is complete.
Kind regards,
Thank you, Ash, for this tip as I learn how to manage package
dependencies on Sid. I also look at the package web page and package
trackers to see what might be wrong. I will continue to use stable
most of the time for ordinary work, and keep Sid up to date when I am
working on bug fixes. It looks like quite a few packages are
currently affected by the recent upgrade of Python to 3.10, including
Xen, Samba, and Libre Office. For Xen, it appears a binary-only
upload fixes it, and that was already done earlier today.
A couple of other remarks: aptitude uses a more sophisticated algorithm
to decide upgrades. Some sets of upgrades require to be done in a
specific order, and aptitude is better able to find such cases. Don't
try it with several hundred packages though, it will take forever.
For example, apt on my sid is currently leaving about 100 packages
untouched, and aptitude upgraded 20 of them. It's never going to get
everything, but it may just manage that one critical package that you
absolutely must get upgraded.
If you have plenty of time, you can try it by hand. It is possible to
do this with any of the tools, but I'm most comfortable with Synaptic.
I did once clear a logjam completely by patient use of Synaptic, every
single withheld package could be upgraded if it was done in the right
order, but this is extremely rare. Almost always, as has been said,
there are dependency issues that order of upgrade does not affect.
One other point: don't leave sid for too long without maintenance. I
upgrade mine most days, but I'd recommend not leaving it longer than a
couple of weeks when times are busy. Sid goes relatively quiet during
the release freeze, when nothing new can be moved out to testing, but it
gets fairly frantic just after the release. I would suggest upgrading at
least once a week then.