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-rw-r--r--doc/apt.conf.5.xml119
1 files changed, 116 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/doc/apt.conf.5.xml b/doc/apt.conf.5.xml
index 1fe980d28..67aa933cc 100644
--- a/doc/apt.conf.5.xml
+++ b/doc/apt.conf.5.xml
@@ -21,12 +21,13 @@
&apt-email;
&apt-product;
<!-- The last update date -->
- <date>10 December 2008</date>
+ <date>18 September 2009</date>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>apt.conf</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<!-- Man page title -->
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs {"/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt";};
<literal>#include</literal> will include the given file, unless the filename
ends in a slash, then the whole directory is included.
<literal>#clear</literal> is used to erase a part of the configuration tree. The
- specified element and all its descendents are erased.</para>
+ specified element and all its descendants are erased.</para>
<para>All of the APT tools take a -o option which allows an arbitrary configuration
directive to be specified on the command line. The syntax is a full option
@@ -308,6 +309,34 @@ DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs {"/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt";};
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>CompressionTypes</term>
+ <listitem><para>List of compression types which are understood by the acquire methods.
+ Files like <filename>Packages</filename> can be available in various compression formats.
+ Per default the acquire methods can decompress <command>bzip2</command>, <command>lzma</command>
+ and <command>gzip</command> compressed files, with this setting more formats can be added
+ on the fly or the used method can be changed. The syntax for this is:
+ <synopsis>Acquire::CompressionTypes::<replaceable>FileExtension</replaceable> "<replaceable>Methodname</replaceable>";</synopsis>
+ </para><para>Also the <literal>Order</literal> subgroup can be used to define in which order
+ the acquire system will try to download the compressed files. The acquire system will try the first
+ and proceed with the next compression type in this list on error, so to prefer one over the other type
+ simple add the preferred type at first - not already added default types will be added at run time
+ to the end of the list, so e.g. <synopsis>Acquire::CompressionTypes::Order:: "gz";</synopsis> can
+ be used to prefer <command>gzip</command> compressed files over <command>bzip2</command> and <command>lzma</command>.
+ If <command>lzma</command> should be preferred over <command>gzip</command> and <command>bzip2</command> the
+ configure setting should look like this <synopsis>Acquire::CompressionTypes::Order { "lzma"; "gz"; };</synopsis>
+ It is not needed to add <literal>bz2</literal> explicit to the list as it will be added automatic.</para>
+ <para>Note that at run time the <literal>Dir::Bin::<replaceable>Methodname</replaceable></literal> will
+ be checked: If this setting exists the method will only be used if this file exists, e.g. for
+ the bzip2 method (the inbuilt) setting is <literallayout>Dir::Bin::bzip2 "/bin/bzip2";</literallayout>
+ Note also that list entries specified on the commandline will be added at the end of the list
+ specified in the configuration files, but before the default entries. To prefer a type in this case
+ over the ones specified in in the configuration files you can set the option direct - not in list style.
+ This will not override the defined list, it will only prefix the list with this type.</para>
+ <para>While it is possible to add an empty compression type to the order list, but APT in its current
+ version doesn't understand it correctly and will display many warnings about not downloaded files -
+ these warnings are most of the time false negatives. Future versions will maybe include a way to
+ really prefer uncompressed files to support the usage of local mirrors.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</refsect1>
@@ -342,6 +371,7 @@ DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs {"/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt";};
<para>Binary programs are pointed to by <literal>Dir::Bin</literal>. <literal>Dir::Bin::Methods</literal>
specifies the location of the method handlers and <literal>gzip</literal>,
+ <literal>bzip2</literal>, <literal>lzma</literal>,
<literal>dpkg</literal>, <literal>apt-get</literal> <literal>dpkg-source</literal>
<literal>dpkg-buildpackage</literal> and <literal>apt-cache</literal> specify the location
of the respective programs.</para>
@@ -434,6 +464,87 @@ DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs {"/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt";};
the default is to disable signing and produce all binaries.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
+
+ <refsect2><title>dpkg trigger usage (and related options)</title>
+ <para>APT can call dpkg in a way so it can make aggressive use of triggers over
+ multiply calls of dpkg. Without further options dpkg will use triggers only in between his
+ own run. Activating these options can therefore decrease the time needed to perform the
+ install / upgrade. Note that it is intended to activate these options per default in the
+ future, but as it changes the way APT calling dpkg drastical it needs a lot more testing.
+ <emphasis>These options are therefore currently experimental and should not be used in
+ productive environments.</emphasis> Also it breaks the progress reporting so all frontends will
+ currently stay around half (or more) of the time in the 100% state while it actually configures
+ all packages.</para>
+ <para>Note that it is not garanteed that APT will support these options or that these options will
+ not cause (big) trouble in the future. If you have understand the current risks and problems with
+ these options, but are brave enough to help testing them create a new configuration file and test a
+ combination of options. Please report any bugs, problems and improvements you encounter and make sure
+ to note which options you have used in your reports. Asking dpkg for help could also be useful for
+ debugging proposes, see e.g. <command>dpkg --audit</command>. A defensive option combination would be
+<literallayout>DPkg::NoTriggers "true";
+PackageManager::Configure "smart";
+DPkg::ConfigurePending "true";
+DPkg::TriggersPending "true";</literallayout></para>
+
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry><term>DPkg::NoTriggers</term>
+ <listitem><para>Add the no triggers flag to all dpkg calls (expect the ConfigurePending call).
+ See &dpkg; if you are interested in what this actually means. In short: dpkg will not run the
+ triggers then this flag is present unless it is explicit called to do so in an extra call.
+ Note that this option exists (undocumented) also in older apt versions with a slightly different
+ meaning: Previously these option only append --no-triggers to the configure calls to dpkg -
+ now apt will add these flag also to the unpack and remove calls.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>PackageManager::Configure</term>
+ <listitem><para>Valid values are "<literal>all</literal>", "<literal>smart</literal>" and "<literal>no</literal>".
+ "<literal>all</literal>" is the default value and causes APT to configure all packages explicit.
+ The "<literal>smart</literal>" way is it to configure only packages which need to be configured before
+ another package can be unpacked (Pre-Depends) and let the rest configure by dpkg with a call generated
+ by the next option. "<literal>no</literal>" on the other hand will not configure anything and totally
+ relay on dpkg for configuration (which will at the moment fail if a Pre-Depends is encountered).
+ Setting this option to another than the all value will implicit activate also the next option per
+ default as otherwise the system could end in an unconfigured status which could be unbootable!
+ </para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>DPkg::ConfigurePending</term>
+ <listitem><para>If this option is set apt will call <command>dpkg --configure --pending</command>
+ to let dpkg handle all required configurations and triggers. This option is activated automatic
+ per default if the previous option is not set to <literal>all</literal>, but deactivating could be useful
+ if you want to run APT multiple times in a row - e.g. in an installer. In this sceneries you could
+ deactivate this option in all but the last run.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>DPkg::TriggersPending</term>
+ <listitem><para>Useful for <literal>smart</literal> configuration as a package which has pending
+ triggers is not considered as <literal>installed</literal> and dpkg treats them as <literal>unpacked</literal>
+ currently which is a dealbreaker for Pre-Dependencies (see debbugs #526774). Note that this will
+ process all triggers, not only the triggers needed to configure this package.</para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>PackageManager::UnpackAll</term>
+ <listitem><para>As the configuration can be deferred to be done at the end by dpkg it can be
+ tried to order the unpack series only by critical needs, e.g. by Pre-Depends. Default is true
+ and therefore the "old" method of ordering in verious steps by everything. While both method
+ were present in earlier APT versions the <literal>OrderCritical</literal> method was unused, so
+ this method is very experimental and needs further improvements before becoming really useful.
+ </para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry><term>OrderList::Score::Immediate</term>
+ <listitem><para>Essential packages (and there dependencies) should be configured immediately
+ after unpacking. It will be a good idea to do this quite early in the upgrade process as these
+ these configure calls require currently also <literal>DPkg::TriggersPending</literal> which
+ will run quite a few triggers (which maybe not needed). Essentials get per default a high score
+ but the immediate flag is relativly low (a package which has a Pre-Depends is higher rated).
+ These option and the others in the same group can be used to change the scoring. The following
+ example shows the settings with there default values.
+ <literallayout>OrderList::Score {
+ Delete 500;
+ Essential 200;
+ Immediate 10;
+ PreDepends 50;
+};</literallayout>
+ </para></listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ </refsect2>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
@@ -827,7 +938,9 @@ is commented.
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Files</title>
- <para><filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename></para>
+ <variablelist>
+ &file-aptconf;
+ </variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>See Also</title>