Bug#698675: apt: suggested change to man page description of apt-get dist-upgrade

[Steve Riley <steve@rileyz.net>]

Package: apt
Version: 0.9.7.5ubuntu5.2
Severity: normal


The current wording for apt-get dist-upgrade is:

  dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade, also intelligently
  handles changing dependencies with new versions of packages; apt-get has a "smart"
  conflict resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages
  at the expense of less important ones if necessary. The dist-upgrade command may
  therefore remove some packages.


In my experience, dist-upgrade can also cause the installation of packages if, say,
a new version of a package already installed now has additional dependencies. We
have had to explain this somewhat regularly on the Kubuntu Forums (where I am one
of the administrators).

I'd like to propose a change to the description so that this behavior is mentioned.
Please consider the following substitute paragraph, with suggested changes typed
in all capital letters only for ease of seeing in the bug report:

  dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade, also intelligently
  handles changing dependencies with new versions of packages; apt-get has a "smart"
  conflict resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages
  at the expense of less important ones if necessary. The dist-upgrade command may
  therefore ADD OR remove some packages, TO ENSURE THAT ANY NEW DEPENDENCIES OF
  EXISTING INSTALLED PACKAGES ARE MET.


Thank you for considering this request.