Bug#216682: apt/preferences: need for pinning a given (set of) package per release
On Mon, Oct 20, 2003 at 12:12:15AM +0200, Yann Dirson wrote:
> - there is a specific form (identified by a single package name) and a
> general one (identified by "Package: *")
>
> - the general one allows to assign a priority to the version of all
> packages provided by a given (set of) repository(ies) (ie. a line from
> sources.list), regardless of what this version is. The computed
> priority can then be observed in "apt-cache policy" output on the
> left of the relevant repository line.
>
> - the specific one allows to assign a priority to a given (range of)
> version(s) of a given package, based on various criteria (see below).
> The computed priority can then be observed in "apt-cache policy"
> output on the right of the matched package version, even when not
> using the package version as criteria. Additionally, a possible
> display bug in "apt-cache policy" causes the elected priority to get
> displayed next to all other available versions.
I don't think I like this "general" vs. "specific" distinction. I'd rather
say something like:
Each stanza contains criteria used to match a set of packages and
versions, and preferences that should be applied to those packages.
Packages can be matched by name, or "*" can be used to match all packages.
Versions can be matched [describe the methods]...
The preferences which can be applied are [pins]...
Does that make sense?
> - for a given package, only the last paragraph of the specific form is
> read, all previous ones are ignored without notice. Because of this
> the layout of "apt-cache policy" output seems strange, and this could
> account for the above-mentionned "possible display-bug".
Is this true? I haven't checked the code. It seems more likely that it
simply overwrites existing data in those fields.
> - FIXME: I did not experiment yet with equivalent combinations of the
> general forms
What do you mean?
> - FIXME: given independant scores for the general and specific forms, I
> suppose the candidate version is the one which has the best eligible score
> in either slot ?
I'd have to look over the code to find out which match wins, if there is a
general rule. The old man page said this:
Each package may be pinned to a specific version and each Pack-
ages file has a priority for every package inside. The highest
priority assigned to a package is the one that is used.
> - There are 3 ways of selecting (pinning) the (range of) versions a
> paragraph refers to: by release, by version, and by origin. A
> paragraph of the general form can only use a "release" Pin, whereas a
> paragraph of the specific form can use any Pin form.
Pins for a specific package can use version, release or origin. Wildcard pins
("general form") can use release or origin (obviously an individual package
version doesn't make sense).
--
- mdz
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