Bug#216682: apt/preferences: need for pinning a given (set of) package per release
On Mon, Oct 20, 2003 at 03:24:29PM -0400, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> severity 216682 wishlist
> retitle 216682 People still don't understand the preferences file
> thanks
Sorry for further retitling, I did not see your answer at first :)
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2003 at 09:53:41PM +0200, Yann Dirson wrote:
> If you think it is unclear, please submit a patch improving it.
Hm, is it unfair to wait before fully understanding it first ? :)
> The text under VERSIONING explains this to my satisfaction. This
> man page has already been practically rewritten, and still people
> have difficulty with it.
Yes, there has been considerable improvements since the woody version,
and I don't intend to criticize you and others about that. However,
after practicing the use of the feature, I still do not fully
understand all details, and I'd like, firstly, to disambiguate things
in my mind, and, secondly, to find a way to make that more clear in
the manpage.
> I personally think that the old VERSIONING text was clearer:
>
> > One purpose of the preferences file is to let the user select which
> > version of a package will be installed. This selection can be made in a
> > number of ways that fall into three categories, version, release and
> > origin.
> >
> > Selection by version [...]
> >
> > Selection by release [...]
> >
> > The final selection method is by origin [...]
I'll re-read the old manpage as well, and will see if I can improve
the new one.
> But I think that in the end, this just isn't a simple concept, and people will
> always have trouble with it.
That's possible. But nonetheles, I think it is a great feature, and
we should make it as accessible as possible.
> When in doubt, try something and see if it works. If you had done that
> rather than filing this bug report, it would have answered your question
> more efficiently, and we would not be having this discussion.
I _have_ done that, but, unfortunately, with essential packages...
Regards,
--
Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org> | Why make M$-Bill richer & richer ?
Debian-related: <dirson@debian.org> | Support Debian GNU/Linux:
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