• From: inside Ed
  • Registered: 2011-07-25
  • Posts: 2,865

Topic: Can we do something about the default apt settings?

We've had quite a number of problems with the default settings in /etc/apt/preferences, due to Squeeze having a pin-priority of 100. Not only has there been backports breakage that Debian users didn't have (the default pin-priority for backports in Debian is 100, and 500 for Stable), but a lot of people get into trouble following the apt-pinning thread, which I think assumes the standard Debian setup.

Now, I'm not privy to the ins-and-outs of apt settings and preferences, but it seems like we'd benefit from having Squeeze set to a higher pin-priority. I'm sure there are forum members with more knowledge of this than me, and we can all dig into the man pages and maybe come up with a solution that would benefit everybody, and have it included in the next release, if our fearless leader decides to issue one big_smile

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  • From: #! NightClub
  • Registered: 2011-06-02
  • Posts: 3,841

Re: Can we do something about the default apt settings?

I think it is a good idea to discuss this. I am not a guru either but I support this.

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  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2010-07-02
  • Posts: 1,272

Re: Can we do something about the default apt settings?

Or maybe we could just edit the tutorial? The first page of the how-to thread shows a couple example /etc/apt/preferences files. Not everyone wants their backports to have the same priority either, some people use pure squeeze, some people use squeeze with a little backports, some people use a combination of squeeze, backports and testing. The default #! setup uses pure squeeze and for a good reason, when you start switching apt's priorities around your taking your systems life into it's own hands. I mean, bumping the priority up to 400 or so still wouldn't prevent people from apt-fscking up their systems if they went and set wheezy and sid repos at 300 and 400 like the tutorial suggests, and we don't want to put backports at a higher priority than squeeze, because that would make #! into a distro that is not squeeze based by default. I'm not saying it's a bad idea to bump the priorities up a bit, say 600 for squeeze and 500 for backports, just, you would think someone modifying a linux system like that would be able to figure out that repos that have a higher priority in a file called /etc/apt/preferences would......have a higher priority when installing programs from them using apt. As far as having a new release, that would be really awesome just to have a unified crunch-bang disc with more recent squeeze packages and some new artwork and such. Maybe our fearless leader will hook us up for christmas big_smile

Last edited by mynis01 (2011-09-05 23:25:53)