confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

[kubicle]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

I can recall, more than once, situations in which upgrade, because it would hold back certain packages, ended up causing other packages to subsequently remove themselves.

I'm baffled by why it would do that, it definitely shouldn't.
(From man apt-get):

upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in /etc/apt/sources.list. Packages currently installed with new versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without changing the install status of another package will be left at their current version. An update must be performed first so that apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.

I don't doubt your recollections, though. If it happens again the details might help to determine whether such behavior is a bug or caused by some extraordinary circumstances.

That's why I now use only dist-upgrade instead.

I usually use dist-upgrade as well. With larger upgrades (that include removal of packages) I sometimes run upgrade first to break the upgrade to smaller, more manageable chunks (it's easier to see which package upgrades want to remove/install packages once you get the other packages "out-the-way" by just "upgrading" first.

----

It's also worth noting that sometimes removing packages is really by design and necessary to upgrade [dist-upgrade]. But of course, like has been said on this thread before, you should always inspect what would get removed.

One should be extra cautious, if:
1. There would be more than a handful of packages removed when no obvious replacement packages are installed.
2. The system wants to remove something that looks/feels important to you.
3. An upgrade would remove more packages than would be installed/upgraded (upgrading 2 packages suggests removal of 4 packages).
In all these scenarios the removal of packages might actually be the "right" thing to do, but it's safer to hold the upgrade until you understand (or ask somenone who does) why those packages are marked for removal

[Snowhog]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

Speaking only 'bout myself, I only use sudo apt-get dist-upgrade (after doing sudo apt-get update), and I've never had any issues - none. But Like kubicle stated, I review the listed installs/upgrades/removals that are indicated, and NEVER just hit the enter key.

[SteveRiley]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

I don't doubt your recollections, though. If it happens again the details might help to determine whether such behavior is a bug or caused by some extraordinary circumstances.

I'm thinking about aliasing apt-get update into apt-get update && apt-get -s upgrade just so I can see, every time I do an update, if an upgrade would result in the behavior I've seen before. If I catch it again, I'll spend some cycles investigating it.

[marqueemark]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

This is all very informative, for anyone who may be interested it seems that running the kpackagekit is the same as sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade. It clears the queue completely and doesn't seem to install anything that isn't in the package kit

[Arran]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

Thank you, doctordruidphd for this full answer. Very informative and comprehensive.

I have just two questions left: What is «muon»? And how do put a hold on the command line?

[vinnywright]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

Thank you, doctordruidphd for this full answer. Very informative and comprehensive.

I have just two questions left: What is «muon»? And how do put a hold on the command line?

muon is another package manager.

? a hold on the command line ? .............what do you mean by this ?

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

? a hold on the command line ? .............what do you mean by this ?

I think the question is about how to place a hold on a package at the command line.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

Yes, the article is one way of doing it.

To summarize: to place a hold on a package via the command line:

echo "packagename hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections

To find out what packages are on hold:

dpkg --get-selections | grep hold

And to clear the hold on the package so it can be updated:

echo "packagename install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Only thing you need to be aware of here is that some packages have other packages that go along with them, and they need to be held, also. For example, to place a hold on firefox, you also need to place holds on firefox-globalmenu and firefox-locale-en (or whatever locale you are using).

When you do the upgrade or dist-upgrade, the packages on hold will show up in the "held back" list if there are upgrades available, but the upgrades to them will not be installed until the hold is cleared.

This is, by the way, also a means of preventing certain packages, and their dependencies, from being installed on your system. If you are one of those folks who doesn't trust mono, for example, you can remove the mono-runtime package, and then place a hold on mono-runtime. Once you do that, neither mono nor other packages that depend on it will be installed.

[Arran]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

$thank you doctor, that was exactly the response, i expected. Now, to make sure, if I want a hold,, sya on Gimp, I enter on the Konsole:

echo gimp | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Is that correct?

At the moment there is no Hold on any package.

[dibl]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

$thank you doctor, that was exactly the response, i expected. Now, to make sure, if I want a hold,, sya on Gimp, I enter on the Konsole:

echo gimp | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Is that correct?

At the moment there is no Hold on any package.

No.

echo gimp hold | sudo dpkg --set-selections

"hold" tells it to set the status to hold. "install" tells it to set the status to installable/ugradeable.

[Arran]

Re: confused about sudo apt-get vs kpkgkit

Thanks very much, now all is clear and I copied this into my personal handbook.