[Aptitude-devel] Bug#367648: aptitude: Can't "Hold" a Package Being Removed Automatically

[Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo]

Control: tags -1 + wontfix
Control: severity -1 wishlist


Hi Brian,

2006-05-17 13:14 Brian White:
>Package: aptitude
>Version: 0.2.15.9-2
>Severity: minor
>
>If a package is about to be removed because it was automatically 
>installed but is no longer needed, it is not possible to press ":" to 
>tell aptitude to not do this on this run.
>
>This is important when the package being removed is the running kernel 
>(because kernel-image-2.6-686 now depends on a newer version).  I'd 
>like to press ":" to delay the removal of the 2.6.8-2 kernel until the 
>next run, after the 2.6.8-3 kernel has been installed on this run.
>
>My only alternative seems to be to press "+" to install the current 
>version and the remember to find and remove it during a later run.

... and a decade later, finally we get to reply to your report, sorry
for the delay.


In principle, if first you unmark the package as automatically installed
("m"), then "keep" (":") should have worked and done the job.

But it is true that you cannot have it both ways, marked as
automatically installed but kept for the time being.

Basically, aptitude is designed to be eager to remove the automatically
installed packages ASAP, and some people even got angry that packages
were scheduled to be removed only the next time, not in the very same
run when they were not needed (I closed over 20 bug reports complaining
about this in one recent release of the 0.7 series).

What one can do is to schedule the action by selecting the action on the
package but quitting (in curses), or using the --schedule option in the
command line to defer this until the next time.  But this is a bit
unsafe, because the kernel can be removed unadvertently before the
system is restarted, when modules of the kernel might be needed (or
similar problems for other packages not as critical as the kernel).


One can also use user-tags for this within aptitude, e.g. marking
packages with tags "to-be-removed" and then have cron jobs (perhaps
@reboot time) reminding you to do it, or remembering to check them every
now and then.


In any case, as I explained, the current behaviour is quite ingrained
within aptitude, and has been so for a long time, and people complain
loudly when the removals of packages don't happen immediately enough, so
in principle I am marking this as +wontfix.


Cheers.
-- 
Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo <manuel.montezelo at gmail.com>