dev <devuan.2@???> wrote:

> I was wondering if anyone could offer some clarity on how best to apply patches on Debian derived systems? There are so many options across apt-get and aptitude... I cannot make sense of them all:
>
> apt-get upgrade
> apt-get dist-upgrade
> apt-get safe-upgrade
> aptitude upgrade
> aptitude safe-upgrade
> aptitude full-upgrade
>
> The man pages tell about the different options, but I don't know if removing packages to resolve dependencies is a good thing or not.
>
> Then I found the link below[1] explaining that 'aptitude' is the tool to use on Debian while other information[2] suggests that 'apt-get' is the tool to use so I'm confused and hoping some of you generous folks could provide some insight here or at least admit you are as confused as I am.

I've never felt any need to depart from apt-get. Normally just "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade" - or dist-upgrade in situations like the one in the second link you posted.
As to removing packages, when that will only happen if one is no longer needed - well actually if it needs to be removed. If a package is just "no longer needed" then apt will spit out a notice to that effect.