Bug#1086536: option to ignore unreachable sources without error

[Simon Richter <sjr@debian.org>]

Package: apt
Version: 2.6.1
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-Cc: sjr@debian.org

Hi,

we have an in-house repository that is only reachable from the company
network. When I'm connected to another network, this causes "apt update"
to fail and report an error.

It would be nice if I could specify that for some sources, it is not an
error for the source to be unreachable during "update", so automated
processes (like installing security updates) can continue unless they
need something from that source.

   Simon

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.7
  APT prefers stable-security
  APT policy: (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'proposed-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-26-amd64 (SMP w/20 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US:en
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+deb12u8
ii  libgcc-s1               12.2.0-14
ii  libgnutls30             3.7.9-2+deb12u3
ii  libseccomp2             2.5.4-1+deb12u1
ii  libstdc++6              12.2.0-14
ii  libsystemd0             252.31-1~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
pn  powermgmt-base  <none>

-- no debconf information