Bug#267087: apt: Unclear how to upgrade just one pacakge (in manpage)
Package: apt
Version: 0.5.27
Severity: minor
Tags: patch
When I was trying to figure out how to just upgrade ONE package (say,
one that had just had a security patch uploaded), the manpage was very
unclear. "apt-get upgrade" upgrades ALL packages that can be
upgraded, and I couldn't do this, since I was too low on disk space
and too out-of-date with my package updating.
The way to do this is actually "apt-get install <packagename>", but
that was counter-intuitive to me, because I know that only to mean
"install this package that wasn't previously on my system." This
should be specified in the manpage; I've included a patch that adds a
paragraph to the "install" target stanza saying this.
Thanks!
- Nori Heikkinen
<nori@sccs.swarthmore.edu>
-- Package-specific info:
-- apt-config dump --
APT "";
APT::Architecture "i386";
APT::Build-Essential "";
APT::Build-Essential:: "build-essential";
APT::Cache-Limit "16000000";
Dir "/";
Dir::State "var/lib/apt/";
Dir::State::lists "lists/";
Dir::State::cdroms "cdroms.list";
Dir::State::userstatus "status.user";
Dir::State::status "/var/lib/dpkg/status";
Dir::Cache "var/cache/apt/";
Dir::Cache::archives "archives/";
Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache "srcpkgcache.bin";
Dir::Cache::pkgcache "pkgcache.bin";
Dir::Etc "etc/apt/";
Dir::Etc::sourcelist "sources.list";
Dir::Etc::vendorlist "vendors.list";
Dir::Etc::vendorparts "vendors.list.d";
Dir::Etc::main "apt.conf";
Dir::Etc::parts "apt.conf.d";
Dir::Etc::preferences "preferences";
Dir::Bin "";
Dir::Bin::methods "/usr/lib/apt/methods";
Dir::Bin::dpkg "/usr/bin/dpkg";
DPkg "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true";
-- /etc/apt/preferences --
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 666
Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 999
-- /etc/apt/sources.list --
## security ###
deb http://security.debian.org stable/updates main non-free contrib
deb http://security.debian.org testing/updates main non-free contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main
### regular binaries ###
#deb ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/debian stable main non-free contrib
#deb ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/debian testing main non-free contrib
#deb ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/debian unstable main non-free contrib
deb http://debian.tod.net/debian stable main non-free contrib
deb http://debian.tod.net/debian testing main non-free contrib
deb http://debian.tod.net/debian unstable main non-free contrib
### non-US binaries
deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
### regular sources ###
#deb-src ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/debian stable main non-free contrib
#deb-src ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/debian testing main non-free contrib
#deb-src ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/debian unstable main non-free contrib
deb-src http://debian.tod.net/debian stable main non-free contrib
deb-src http://debian.tod.net/debian testing main non-free contrib
deb-src http://debian.tod.net/debian unstable main non-free contrib
### non-US sources ###
deb-src http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US testing/non-US main contrib non-free
deb-src http://non-us.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-free
### martin's ###
#deb http://people.debian.org/~madduck/stage ./
#deb-src http://people.debian.org/~madduck/stage ./
#deb http://people.debian.org/~madduck/internal ./
#deb-src http://people.debian.org/~madduck/internal ./
# for mplayer
#deb http://marillat.free.fr/ unstable main
# for gtk2-perl
#deb http://www.raspberryheaven.net/~hannibal/debs unstable/
#deb-src http://www.raspberryheaven.net/~hannibal/debs unstable/
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (999, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.4.26-1-686
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (ignored: LC_ALL set to en_US)
Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii libc6 2.3.2.ds1-13 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libgcc1 1:3.4.1-4sarge1 GCC support library
ii libstdc++5 1:3.3.4-6sarge1 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
-- no debconf information
diff -aurN apt-0.5.27/doc/apt-get.8.xml apt-0.5.27.patch/doc/apt-get.8.xml
--- apt-0.5.27/doc/apt-get.8.xml 2004-05-17 21:15:56.000000000 -0400
+++ apt-0.5.27.patch/doc/apt-get.8.xml 2004-08-20 10:33:40.000000000 -0400
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
<varlistentry><term>install</term>
<listitem><para><literal>install</literal> is followed by one or more packages desired for
- installation. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
+ installation or upgrading. Each package is a package name, not a fully qualified
filename (for instance, in a Debian GNU/Linux system, libc6 would be the
argument provided, not <literal>libc6_1.9.6-2.deb</literal>) All packages required
by the package(s) specified for installation will also be retrieved and
@@ -131,6 +131,16 @@
<para>Both of the version selection mechanisms can downgrade packages and must
be used with care.</para>
+ <para>This is also the target to use if you want to upgrade a
+ one or more already-installed packages without upgrading every
+ package you have on your system. Unlike the "upgrade" target,
+ which installs the newest version of all currently installed
+ packages, "install" will install the newest version of only the
+ packages specified. Simply provide the name of the package you
+ wish to upgrade, and if a newer version is available, it (and its
+ dependencies, as described above) will be downloaded and
+ installed.</para>
+
<para>Finally, the &apt-preferences; mechanism allows you to
create an alternative installation policy for
individual packages.</para>
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