[Linux-disciples] Telling apt-get not to keep packages back

[Adam Rosi-Kessel]

Stephen R Laniel wrote:
>>I don't think apt-get does this.  Are you sure you're diagnosing
>>things right?
> It lists a package as 'held back' when I do an apt-get
> upgrade, so I do an apt-get install [packageName], and
> it goes through fine -- after telling me (in every case)
> that an extra package will be installed. So that seems
> like the best explanation I can come up with.

One obvious reason would be if you actually 'held' the package--you
should dpkg --get-selections | grep packagename to make sure it's not
set as 'held'.

Sometimes I've noticed packages get held when upgrading requires some
substitution of some other package--say libfoo0 needs to be replaced
with libfoo1 (not just a different Debian version, but a different
package)--conceivable the "extra" package that appears to be holding
back the upgrade requires that sort of replacement and thus it is held.

>>And why not use aptitude? 
> No one's ever told me why I should do this. What's the
> draw of aptitude?

aptitude has a different upgrade logic than apt-get, and it's usually
better. It is also configurable about whether you want to pull in
"recommended" "suggested" etc. or not.

It also gives you a quick graphical overview of what it's about to do
before it starts which is helpful. You'll have a much easier time
understanding what upgrades are blocked and why; why installing some
things will cause others to be uninstalled; etc..  You can hold packages
right from the aptitude interface (with =) rather than the dpkg
--set-selections method which is rather awkward.

It's also much easier to downgrade from aptitude.

You can also use aptitude as a command line replacement for apt-get and
forego the curses GUI--i.e., just aptitude update, aptitude upgrade,
aptitude install packagename, etc..

It also shares mutt's ability to 'limit' the display of packages to
those matching a regexp, which can be much easier than apt-cache search.

You can, for example, have it show you all installed packages,
regardless of category, in reverse install-size order--which is great if
you want to free up some space and see what is taking up the most.

Those are just a few suggestions off the top of my head.
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