Bug#308445: apt preference does not match 'Archive:' line in Release files anymore
2009/12/29 Uwe Storbeck <uwe@ibr.ch>:
>> But it's not clear whether it's normal that most primary mirrors
>> use this tag and not Suite for section-specific Release files.
>
> Maybe because the apt_preferences manpage still only mentions the
> 'Archive:' line?
The current unstable version has the following line
man> the Archive: or Suite: line
(seems to be incorrect as only Suite is parsed, see below)
But even in older version the paragraph above this should mention:
man> The Release file is normally found in the directory .../dists/dist-name
So we should look at this release file instead:
http://volatile.debian.org/debian-volatile/dists/lenny/volatile/Release
release> Origin: volatile.debian.org
release> Label: debian-volatile
release> Suite: stable
release> Codename: lenny
(The releasefiles we looked at before aren't even downloaded by apt.)
And for this release file the apt policy is correct:
500 http://volatile.debian.org lenny/volatile/main Packages
release o=volatile.debian.org,a=stable,n=lenny,l=debian-volatile,c=main
origin volatile.debian.org
(same for volatile-sloppy, expect Pinning 1 so If i would be the
archive admin i would change at least the label for ~sloppy)
> This worked up to apt version 0.5 but obviously does not work
> anymore since apt version 0.6.
The "offending" change is hidden in revision 1327.1.25 as it changes
in deblistparser.cc "Archive" to "Suite".
The revision itself is unfortunately one of the more obscure ones
as it is an old converted arch-merge (from 2004-12-13 btw),
so i can't say much more about the change, but i suspect it
was changed by request of a "higher authority", as you could
argue that "Archive" is a term standing for a whole archive
(e.g. volatile.debian.org ) while "Suite" is a special combination
of packages and versions in the archive (e.g. stable, unstable, ...).
>> OK, it looks like this bug may not be an APT bug.
> At least it's an inconsistency between apt and it's
> documentation. So either apt or the documentation should be
> fixed.
So dropping the "Archive:" in favor of "Suite:"
is what you suggest to fix it?
Merry post-Christmas and a happy New Year!
David Kalnischkies
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