On 2013-06-02 23:28:22 +1200, Chris Bannister wrote: > On Sun, Jun 02, 2013 at 01:12:46AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote: > > On 2013-06-02 07:08:53 +1200, Chris Bannister wrote: > > > On Sat, Jun 01, 2013 at 03:16:32PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote: > > > > How can I tell apt-get not to break the system by removing > > > > potentially useful packages? > > > > > > By using "apt-get upgrade" instead of "apt-get dist-upgrade" > > > > I had problems with "apt-get upgrade" in the past. I don't remember > > what, but this may be what the apt-get man page describes: "under no > > circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages > > not already installed retrieved and installed." This is not what I > > want. For instance, it should be fine to remove transitional packages. > > "apt-get upgrade" should upgrade all possible packages without removing > any, *then* use "apt-get dist-upgrade", this will allow you to carefully > review the actions and decide to whether to accept them or not.
I was at the point of doing the second step, and more precisely "apt-get install apache2" to upgrade apache2 and see what was proposed since aptitude signaled some broken package in case of upgrade (apt-get is smarter than aptitude for its default dependency resolution). After searching a bit, I could decide for apache2. Sometimes time is more complex, as this can involve several dozens of packages. > > > Have you got an example of where this is a concern? > > > > For instance, "apt-get dist-upgrade" says that apache2.2-common > > libapache2-svn will be removed (due to the 2.2 -> 2.4 apache2 > > transition). It is not OK, because libapache2-svn should not be > > removed. Using "apt-get upgrade" isn't OK either, because if I > > understand correctly, it will never accept to remove apache2.2-common > > (as this is a 2.2 related package as its name says). > > So you need libapache2-svn, but there is no replacement if you accept > the 2.2 -> 2.4 apache2 transition? What I was wondering initially was: is libapache2-svn still needed (in which case I should wait for a new version) or are its features integrated in some other package (e.g. from the apache2 source)? A tool analyzing the dependency system (such as apt-get) could answer such a question automatically. -- Vincent Lefèvre <vinc...@vinc17.net> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.net/> 100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <http://www.vinc17.net/blog/> Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon) -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20130602152457.gb17...@xvii.vinc17.org