Bug#1072371: apt.conf(5) does not say how directive order matters

["Karl O. Pinc" <kop@karlpinc.com>]

Package: apt
Version: 2.6.1
Severity: normal

apt.conf(5) talks about the ordering of the loading of config files,
but does not say why the order matters.  At least not in the section
on ordering.  (Behavor is implied where "clear" is explained.)

The present text (sid) is:


   <orderedlist>
      <para>When an APT tool starts up it will read the configuration files
      in the following order:</para>
      <listitem>...</listitem>
   </orderedlist>
   </refsect1>

Better would be something like:

   <orderedlist>
      <para>When an APT tool starts up it will read the configuration files
      in the following order:</para>
      <listitem>...</listitem>
   </orderedlist>

   <para>When a directive appears more than once in a configuration,
   absent the use of syntax that appends to or clears a part of the
   configuration, the value of a directive is the value given
   last.</para>
   </refsect1>

(Or maybe the para needs to go inside the end of the orderedlist.  I
forget what works.)

-- Package-specific info:

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


-- (no /etc/apt/preferences.d/* present) --


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


-- (no /etc/apt/sources.list.d/* present) --


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.5
  APT prefers stable-security
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-21-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii  adduser                 3.134
ii  debian-archive-keyring  2023.3+deb12u1
ii  gpgv                    2.2.40-1.1
ii  libapt-pkg6.0           2.6.1
ii  libc6                   2.36-9+deb12u7
ii  libgcc-s1               12.2.0-14
ii  libgnutls30             3.7.9-2+deb12u2
ii  libseccomp2             2.5.4-1+b3
ii  libstdc++6              12.2.0-14
ii  libsystemd0             252.22-1~deb12u1

Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii  ca-certificates  20230311

Versions of packages apt suggests:
pn  apt-doc         <none>
ii  aptitude        0.8.13-5
ii  dpkg-dev        1.21.22
ii  gnupg           2.2.40-1.1
ii  gnupg2          2.2.40-1.1
ii  powermgmt-base  1.37

-- no debconf information