X-Git-Url: http://git.hcoop.net/ntk/apt.git/blobdiff_plain/860ff9593b6d706136518693b2a82db6b769e17e..ab30a600527ba467cda6474c3ab09d64fcbfacd6:/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml diff --git a/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml b/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml index 12b03196..f08f92b9 100644 --- a/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml +++ b/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml @@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ %aptent; + +%aptverbatiment; + ]> @@ -14,12 +17,13 @@ &apt-email; &apt-product; - 29 February 2004 + 16 February 2010 apt_preferences 5 + APT @@ -31,7 +35,8 @@ Description The APT preferences file /etc/apt/preferences -can be used to control which versions of packages will be selected +and the fragment files in the /etc/apt/preferences.d/ +folder can be used to control which versions of packages will be selected for installation. Several versions of a package may be available for installation when @@ -51,6 +56,26 @@ earliest in the &sources-list; file. The APT preferences file does not affect the choice of instance, only the choice of version. +Preferences are a strong power in the hands of a system administrator +but they can become also their biggest nightmare if used without care! +APT will not questioning the preferences so wrong settings will therefore +lead to uninstallable packages or wrong decisions while upgrading packages. +Even more problems will arise if multiply distribution releases are mixed +without a good understanding of the following paragraphs. +Packages included in a specific release aren't tested in and +therefore doesn't always work as expected in older or newer releases or +together with other packages from different releases. +You have been warned. + +Note that the files in the /etc/apt/preferences.d +directory are parsed in alphanumeric ascending order and need to obey the +following naming convention: The files have either no or "pref" +as filename extension and only contain alphanumeric, hyphen (-), +underscore (_) and period (.) characters. +Otherwise APT will print a notice that it has ignored a file if the file +doesn't match a pattern in the Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently +configuration list - in this case it will be silently ignored. + APT's Default Priority Assignments If there is no preferences file or if there is no entry in the file @@ -60,6 +85,9 @@ belongs. It is possible to single out a distribution, "the target release", which receives a higher priority than other distributions do by default. The target release can be set on the apt-get command line or in the APT configuration file /etc/apt/apt.conf. +Note that this has precedence over any general priority you set in the +/etc/apt/preferences file described later, but not +over specifically pinned packages. For example, @@ -74,9 +102,19 @@ APT::Default-Release "stable"; algorithm to set the priorities of the versions of a package. Assign: + +priority 1 +to the versions coming from archives which in their Release +files are marked as "NotAutomatic: yes" but not as "ButAutomaticUpgrades: yes" +like the debian experimental archive. + + priority 100 -to the version that is already installed (if any). +to the version that is already installed (if any) and to the versions coming +from archives which in their Release files are marked as "NotAutomatic: yes" and +"ButAutomaticUpgrades: yes" like the debian backports archive since squeeze-backports. + @@ -93,7 +131,10 @@ algorithm to set the priorities of the versions of a package. Assign: If the target release has not been specified then APT simply assigns priority 100 to all installed package versions and priority 500 to all -uninstalled package versions. +uninstalled package versions, except versions coming from archives which +in their Release files are marked as "NotAutomatic: yes" - +these versions get the priority 1 or priority 100 if it is additionally marked +as "ButAutomaticUpgrades: yes". APT then applies the following rules, listed in order of precedence, to determine which version of a package to install. @@ -143,10 +184,11 @@ separated by blank lines. Records can have one of two forms, a specific form and a general form. -The specific form assigns a priority (a "Pin-Priority") to a -specified package and specified version or version range. For example, +The specific form assigns a priority (a "Pin-Priority") to one or more +specified packages and specified version or version range. For example, the following record assigns a high priority to all versions of -the perl package whose version number begins with "5.8". +the perl package whose version number begins with "5.8". +Multiple packages can be separated by spaces. Package: perl @@ -171,8 +213,15 @@ Pin: origin "" Pin-Priority: 999 -A note of caution: the keyword used here is "origin". -This should not be confused with the Origin of a distribution as +A note of caution: the keyword used here is "origin" +which can be used to match a hostname. The following record will assign a high priority +to all versions available from the server identified by the hostname "ftp.de.debian.org" + +Package: * +Pin: origin "ftp.de.debian.org" +Pin-Priority: 999 + +This should not be confused with the Origin of a distribution as specified in a Release file. What follows the "Origin:" tag in a Release file is not an Internet address but an author or vendor name, such as "Debian" or "Ximian". @@ -183,7 +232,16 @@ belonging to any distribution whose Archive name is "unstable Package: * Pin: release a=unstable -Pin-Priority: 500 +Pin-Priority: 50 + + +The following record assigns a high priority to all package versions +belonging to any distribution whose Codename is "&testing-codename;". + + +Package: * +Pin: release n=&testing-codename; +Pin-Priority: 900 The following record assigns a high priority to all package versions @@ -201,6 +259,49 @@ Pin-Priority: 500 +Regular expressions and glob() syntax + +APT also supports pinning by glob() expressions and regular +expressions surrounded by /. For example, the following +example assigns the priority 500 to all packages from +experimental where the name starts with gnome (as a glob()-like +expression) or contains the word kde (as a POSIX extended regular +expression surrounded by slashes). + + + +Package: gnome* /kde/ +Pin: release n=experimental +Pin-Priority: 500 + + + +The rule for those expressions is that they can occur anywhere +where a string can occur. Thus, the following pin assigns the +priority 990 to all packages from a release starting with karmic. + + + +Package: * +Pin: release n=karmic* +Pin-Priority: 990 + + +If a regular expression occurs in a Package field, +the behavior is the same as if this regular expression were replaced +with a list of all package names it matches. It is undecided whether +this will change in the future, thus you should always list wild-card +pins first, so later specific pins override it. + +The pattern "*" in a Package field is not considered +a glob() expression in itself. + + + + + + + How APT Interprets Priorities @@ -315,7 +416,7 @@ APT priorities: The Release file is normally found in the directory .../dists/dist-name: for example, .../dists/stable/Release, -or .../dists/woody/Release. +or .../dists/&stable-codename;/Release. It consists of a single multi-line record which applies to all of the packages in the directory tree below its parent. Unlike the Packages file, nearly all of the lines in a Release @@ -323,10 +424,11 @@ file are relevant for setting APT priorities: -the Archive: line +the Archive: or Suite: line names the archive to which all the packages in the directory tree belong. For example, the line -"Archive: stable" +"Archive: stable" or +"Suite: stable" specifies that all of the packages in the directory tree below the parent of the Release file are in a stable archive. Specifying this value in the APT preferences file @@ -338,6 +440,22 @@ Pin: release a=stable + +the Codename: line +names the codename to which all the packages +in the directory tree belong. For example, the line +"Codename: &testing-codename;" +specifies that all of the packages in the directory +tree below the parent of the Release file belong to a version named +&testing-codename;. Specifying this value in the APT preferences file +would require the line: + + +Pin: release n=&testing-codename; + + + + the Version: line names the release version. For example, the @@ -419,10 +537,6 @@ distribution. Each record in the APT preferences file can optionally begin with one or more lines beginning with the word Explanation:. This provides a place for comments. - -The Pin-Priority: line in each APT preferences record is -optional. If omitted, APT assigs a priority of 1 less than the last value -specified on a line beginning with Pin-Priority: release .... @@ -518,10 +632,74 @@ version. apt-get install package/unstable + + + + +Tracking the evolution of a codename release + +The following APT preferences file will cause APT to assign a +priority higher than the default (500) to all package versions belonging +to a specified codename of a distribution and a prohibitively low priority to +package versions belonging to other Debian distributions, +codenames and archives. +Note that with this APT preference APT will follow the migration of a release +from the archive testing to stable and +later oldstable. If you want to follow for example the progress +in testing notwithstanding the codename changes you should use +the example configurations above. + +Explanation: Uninstall or do not install any Debian-originated package versions +Explanation: other than those in the distribution codenamed with &testing-codename; or sid +Package: * +Pin: release n=&testing-codename; +Pin-Priority: 900 + +Explanation: Debian unstable is always codenamed with sid +Package: * +Pin: release n=sid +Pin-Priority: 800 + +Package: * +Pin: release o=Debian +Pin-Priority: -10 + + + +With a suitable &sources-list; file and the above preferences file, +any of the following commands will cause APT to upgrade to the +latest version(s) in the release codenamed with &testing-codename;. + + +apt-get install package-name +apt-get upgrade +apt-get dist-upgrade + + + +The following command will cause APT to upgrade the specified +package to the latest version from the sid distribution. +Thereafter, apt-get upgrade will upgrade +the package to the most recent &testing-codename; version if that is +more recent than the installed version, otherwise, to the most recent +sid version if that is more recent than the installed +version. + + +apt-get install package/sid + + + +Files + + &file-preferences; + + + See Also &apt-get; &apt-cache; &apt-conf; &sources-list; @@ -531,4 +709,3 @@ apt-get install package/unstable &manbugs; -