Bug#407511: apt: Wrong value for APT::Default-Release is user problem ???
severity 407511 wishlist
thanks
Hi,
It is quite scarely to see grave bug....
Is this bug #407511 important bug? .. or even grave bug for APT?
I think this is something which should be addressed by the "Release
notes". See Relese notes 4.2. "Checking system status"
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#system-status
Many arbitual user configurations such as pinning will cause upgrade
problems. That is not bug of apt system. It is a user configuration
problem. Do not blame all the package management issues on APT.
PINNING can prevent security patch as well.
APT is, by design, a simple release agonostic program whose behavior is
dictated by the archive data and user configuration. That is why we can
let it do downgrade for emergency recovery using 1001 PIN value which is
known to be dangerous. This is fundamental design concept of APT as I
understand and that is why other distributions can use without patching
for the release name etc.
Of course, it will be nice to warn user of many combinations of risky
configurations before upgrade, but that is not the core job of APT. I
really think some sanity check script provided to do checks proposed by
the Release notes.
So this is, at best, a feature request wishlist bug.
Quite frankly, if APT starts spitting warning to have:
* multiple archive such as unstable/stable
* setting default release or
* PINNING,
it will be quite annoying. These should be done only by who knows them
well. Please note that Default-Release is basically setting PINNING of
990.
Ben,
You know better than I know about Debian. I do not understand why you are
moving this up to the grave bug. This seems excessive bug severity.
* lenny didn't support codenames
This is known feature, isn't it. So never use it for upgrade from it.
We can do this from sarge, I hope, since this wishlist feature seems to
be added.
* non-existing release without warning.
APT pinning things including pinning to 990 via Default-Release can set
many bogus things without warning. Wishlist bug for more helpful message
for non-existing things is understandable but it is just wishlist
thing. It is not serious bug not important one.
Am I missing something here?
Osamu
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