[Aptitude-devel] dist-upgrade vs full-upgrade, aka the apt-get jihad

[Tom Roche]

summary: Are there any significant current reasons to prefer `apt-get dist-upgrade` to `aptitude full-upgrade`? 

If so: what are they?

If not: are there any plans to update relevant Debian documents such as the Debian Reference[1] or bug#=411280[2]?

details:

I like the `aptitude` CLI, which I've used since I started using Debian-based distros early in this millenium. (I very rarely use the CUI or NUI or whatever you call it[3].)

However, `aptitude` does regularly bring one annoyance (to me--YMMV): whenever I post to a list or a forum, if I even mention `aptitude`, I get a bunch of responses telling me to use `apt-get` instead. Even when the problem appears to be hardware-related[4], i.e., to have no relation to debian packaging, much less one's APT frontend. The `apt-get` jihadis are especially emphatic when discussing release upgrade. They have no doubt that one really should `apt-get dist-upgrade` to, e.g., go from wheezy to jessie. But, AFAICS, this is based solely on (in increasing order of emphasis)

1. bad `aptitude` experiences in the distant past

2. bug#=411280[2], an 8.5-year-old archived bug, on which the last activity was 5 years ago.

3. Debian Reference section#=2.2.1[1], which cites ... bug#=411280.

> 2.2.1. apt-get / apt-cache vs. aptitude

> Although aptitude is a very nice interactive tool which the author mainly uses, you should know some cautionary facts:

>   * The aptitude command is not recommended for the release-to-release system upgrade on the stable Debian system after the new release.

>     * The use of "apt-get dist-upgrade" is recommended for it. See Bug #411280.[/quote]

This timeframe seems relevant since, IIRC (and please correct me if wrong) project=aptitude revived ~2011 after long inactivity by Daniel Burrows. If that's correct, one might reasonably infer that problems observed 2007-2010 (the time during which bug#=411280[2] was active) have since been addressed. Hence my questions:

1. Should `aptitude full-upgrade` still be deprecated relative to `apt-get dist-upgrade`?

if so:

1.1. What currently makes `apt-get dist-upgrade` {better, more reliable} than `aptitude full-upgrade`?

if not:

1.2. Is any effort being made to correct the currently-misleading reference[1] or bug[2]?

TIA, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche at pobox.com>

[1]: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_literal_apt_get_literal_literal_apt_cache_literal_vs_literal_aptitude_literal
[2]: http://bugs.debian.org/411280
[3]: I.e., the `ncurses`-based, character-mode UI one gets if one calls `aptitude` with no arguments. What *do* you call it?
[4]: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=123574