[Aptitude-devel] Bug#642030: aptitude: cannot forbid more than 1 version of a package

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2015-11-13 12:07:18 +0000, Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo wrote:
> 2015-11-13 11:31 GMT+00:00 Vincent Lefevre <vincent at vinc17.net>:
> > On 2015-11-13 10:59:01 +0000, Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo wrote:
> >>
> >> So when you put packages on hold in testing, say "v1", and "v2"
> >> appears in unstable or testing, the packages don't appear in the bunch
> >> of "Upgradable" when there are newer versions?
> >
> > They still appear on hold, and I cannot know whether there is a new
> > version or not.
> > [...]
> 
> Assuming that the version is not the "candidate version" already
> visible in the right-most column (which in many/most examples given so
> far, it should be), I can only suggest manual review by looking into
> the package info screen.

I don't want to do a manual review each time I upgrade the system.
Things should be automatic. Moreover a manual review won't solve the
problem here because the package info screen doesn't say whether the
version is new or not.

There could be a new feature, which would be "Hold until new version"
(which corresponds to what I suggested for Forbid, but here as it
would be a new feature, this won't change the existing behavior),
or some marker for packages on hold with a new version, so that the
user could check whether some bug is fixed then either confirm the
hold or upgrade the package, for instance.

> Testing and unstable are also for people who are OK with getting their
> hands dirty and track what happens when it is needed to, more so when
> mixing versions of both.  The recent turmoil with the GCC-5 transition
> is a recent enough proof of that.

But this should remain exceptional and not be the normal behavior.

> When packages are on hold/forbidden/not upgraded it is also an unusual
> condition, so you have to keep track of what happens.

No, this is not unusual. This happens frequently... because packages
have annoying bugs/regressions.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent at vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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