Hans, On Wed 03 December 2008 05:37, Hans-J. Ullrich wrote: > Am Dienstag, 2. Dezember 2008 schrieb Jochen Schulz: > > Lennart Sorensen: > > > On Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 06:35:59PM +0100, Hans-J. Ullrich wrote: > > >> just a question: > > >> > > >> adding an experimental source to the sources list (just to install a > > >> special application from this), will an "aptitude upgrade" or "apt-get > > >> upgrade" overwrite ALL installed packages ? > > > > > > upgrade doesn't do anything involving adding or removing packages. > > > > Well, but it upgrades packages. In other words: it overwrites existing > > packages. That's what Hans asked. > > Yes, that is exactly, what I wanted to know: does it overwrite all > installed packages with packages with higher version numbers ? ( = versions > from experimental). > > > > dist-upgrade does, so really using anything other than dist-upgrade > > > ever is just a mistake. > > > > No, it is not. Using 'upgrade' (or 'safe-upgrade' when using aptitude) > > is the safe way to update your system without changing the set of > > installed packages. > > > > In the past, this list received many mails from people asking for help > > after apt(itude) removed some important package from their system. If > > all these people had made a habit of using dist-upgrade only when they > > know they really need it, they would have saved themselves a lot > > trouble. > > > > Of course, if you always check apt(itude)'s output before confirming its > > actions, you don't "break" your system either. But it is never a mistake > > to try the safe alternative first. > > > > J. > > I think my original question was wrong told: It is not a matter of the > difference between upgrade and dist-upgrade (this difference i well known > by me), my question aimed more to like "Hey, if there are higher versions > in experimental, are they automatically installed, when doing apt-get > dist-upgrade (like it behave, if I am running testing and add the > repository of sid in sources.list) ? Or are all versions in experimental > ignored, as experimental is handled in a special way ?"
I certainly am not an expert at package management. In fact, I think maintaining a mixed system probably is one of the least understood areas of Debian policy, but some time ago, I came across this recommendation. I tend to run Stable, with a few packages from Testing, and keep this line in my /etc/apt/apt.conf file: APT::Default-Release "stable"; IIANM this ensures that my majority, stable packages will not be upgraded to testing packages, even though I have the testing repository in my sources.list file. Pinning is another option, but I understand it even less. HTH Cheers! cmr > ...similar to that, you know what I mean. > > And yes, Jochen, I know the matter of dist-upgrade, and I always say: > > upgrade is normal, but dist-upgrade is the "intelligent" upgrade (as you > heve to think, before confirming)! > > Best regards > > Hans -- Debian 'Etch' - Registered Linux User #241964 -------- "More laws, less justice." -- Marcus Tullius Ciceroca, 42 BC -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]