Bug#879012: apt: Please document a=now in apt_preferences(5)

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>]

Package: apt
Version: 1.4.7
Severity: minor

Hi,

>From examining the source, the output of apt-cache policy, and various
online sources, it looks like a=now is able to match currently-installed
packages.  This seems to have been the case for some time now.  If this
is a stable feature indeed, can we document it in apt_preferences(5)?
AFAICT it's not documented anywhere.

Thanks,

John


-- Package-specific info:

-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --


-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/nilarimogard-webupd8-pin present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/nilarimogard-webupd8-pin~ present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/dropbox.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-musicmanager.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-musicmanager.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-talkplugin.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-talkplugin.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/nilarimogard-webupd8-jessie.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/nilarimogard-webupd8-jessie.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/nilarimogard-webupd8-jessie.list~ present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/tomahawk-ppa-wheezy.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/tomahawk-ppa-wheezy.list~ present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/zfsonlinux.list present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/zfsonlinux.list.save present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/zfsonlinux.list~ present, but not submitted) --


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.1
  APT prefers stable-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-3-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii  adduser                 3.115
ii  debian-archive-keyring  2017.5
ii  gpgv                    2.1.18-6
ii  init-system-helpers     1.48
ii  libapt-pkg5.0           1.4.7
ii  libc6                   2.24-11+deb9u1
ii  libgcc1                 1:6.3.0-18
ii  libstdc++6              6.3.0-18

Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii  gnupg   2.1.18-6
ii  gnupg2  2.1.18-6

Versions of packages apt suggests:
pn  apt-doc         <none>
ii  aptitude        0.8.7-1
ii  dpkg-dev        1.18.24
ii  powermgmt-base  1.31+nmu1
ii  python-apt      1.4.0~beta3
ii  synaptic        0.84.2
ii  wajig           2.18.1

-- no debconf information