:: Re: [DNG] apt-get vs. aptitude ?
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Author: Dave Turner
Date:  
To: dng
Subject: Re: [DNG] apt-get vs. aptitude ?
On 15/04/16 22:25, dev wrote:
>
> On 04/15/2016 03:36 PM, Linux O'Beardly wrote:
>> For what it's worth, much of the apt vs aptitude is preference and
>> opinion. However, aptitude does bit better of a job resolving
>> dependencies and preventing them from breaking your system.
>
> Yes, That's what I've always read so I have always used aptitude but
> in this instance I have packages that will not upgrade via aptitude. I
> mention this case specifically as the Debian docs[1] say "aptitude is
> the recommended package manager for Debian".
>
> I post this question with the intent to investigate why I might need
> to familiarize myself more with APT as it's evident there are use
> cases where aptitude cannot get the job done. I have struggled with
> situations similar to this only rarely and could have possibly saved
> my self some time knowing the nuances of APT (Debian indeed has one of
> the most diverse set of package management tools around). With that in
> mind, consider the following on this Debian Wheezy based system
> (apologies in advance for the length of this post, but it seems
> pertinent to include)...
>
>
> #
> # apt-get upgrade <--<< kernel 2.6.32 will NOT install, updates will
> #
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree
> Reading state information... Done
> The following packages have been kept back:
> proxmox-ve-2.6.32
> The following packages will be upgraded:
> base-files libnvpair1 libpve-common-perl libuutil1 libwbclient0
> libzfs2 libzpool2 openssh-client openssh-server samba-common smbclient
> ssh tzdata
> 13 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
> Need to get 8975 kB of archives.
> After this operation, 1438 kB of additional disk space will be used.
> Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
>
>
> #
> # apt-get dist-upgrade <--<< kernel will install, updates will
> #
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree
> Reading state information... Done
> Calculating upgrade... Done
> The following NEW packages will be installed:
> pve-kernel-2.6.32-45-pve
> The following packages will be upgraded:
> base-files libnvpair1 libpve-common-perl libuutil1 libwbclient0
> libzfs2 libzpool2 openssh-client openssh-server proxmox-ve-2.6.32
> samba-common smbclient ssh tzdata
> 14 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
> Need to get 46.2 MB of archives.
> After this operation, 1438 kB of additional disk space will be used.
> Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
>
>
> #
> # aptitude upgrade <--<< kernel will install, updates will NOT
> #
> Resolving dependencies...
> The following NEW packages will be installed:
> pve-kernel-2.6.32-45-pve{a}
> The following packages will be upgraded:
> base-files libnvpair1 libpve-common-perl libuutil1 libwbclient0
> libzfs2 libzpool2 openssh-client openssh-server proxmox-ve-2.6.32
> samba-common smbclient ssh tzdata
> The following packages are RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed:
> openssh-blacklist openssh-blacklist-extra samba-common-bin
> 14 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
> Need to get 46.2 MB of archives. After unpacking 1438 kB will be used.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
>
>
> #
> # aptitude safe-upgrade <--<< kernel will install, updates will NOT
> #
> Resolving dependencies...
> The following NEW packages will be installed:
> pve-kernel-2.6.32-45-pve{a}
> The following packages will be upgraded:
> base-files libnvpair1 libpve-common-perl libuutil1 libwbclient0
> libzfs2 libzpool2 openssh-client openssh-server proxmox-ve-2.6.32
> samba-common smbclient ssh tzdata
> The following packages are RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed:
> openssh-blacklist openssh-blacklist-extra samba-common-bin
> 14 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
> Need to get 46.2 MB of archives. After unpacking 1438 kB will be used.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
>
>
> #
> # aptitude full-upgrade <--<< kernel will install, updates will NOT
> #
> The following NEW packages will be installed:
> pve-kernel-2.6.32-45-pve{a}
> The following packages will be upgraded:
> base-files libnvpair1 libpve-common-perl libuutil1 libwbclient0
> libzfs2 libzpool2 openssh-client openssh-server proxmox-ve-2.6.32
> samba-common smbclient ssh tzdata
> The following packages are RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed:
> openssh-blacklist openssh-blacklist-extra samba-common-bin
> 14 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
> Need to get 46.2 MB of archives. After unpacking 1438 kB will be used.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
>
>
> [1] https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-uptodate.en.html
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I use apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade.
For anything that apt-get refuses to do - such as your example where the
kernel has been kept back - I do sudo aptitude which makes it very easy
to investigate what is going on.
For the 'RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed' aptitude will let you
install them if you want to.
I rarely install anything that is 'RECOMMENDED'. Sometimes that causes
problems, mainly it doesn't.

DaveT