On Sun, 2020-12-27 at 05:42 -0500, Devops PK Carlisle LLC wrote: > I would like to be able to selectively exclude-with-a-warning some > packages from automatic update as I choose, and to have the update > process remember those choices from one update instance to the next: > > Chrome browser: Version a.b.c will be installed > Firefox: Version d.e.f will be installed > Kernel g.h.i is available (automatic update disabled by user) > Libre Office j.k.l will be installed > ... > > If I know that, for instance, a kernel update will break a wifi > dongle > driver or NVIDIA driver, either I must not use automatic updates at > all > and I must remember which packages I don't want to update and > manually > exclude those packages every time OR I must have enough time to > repair > what will break (and may update less often as a result). > > Now I understand the potential for dependency issues if selective > disabling of updates is possible, but that's okay, that's Linux. > Provide > a warning about dependencies if that's detected and leave it up to > the > user to decide.
Such mechanisms for holding back upgrades already exist, just not with the explicit 'automatic update disabled' text. Look into `aptitude hold`/`aptitude unhold`, 'apt pinning', the 'blacklist' in unattended-upgrades.
