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-rw-r--r--doc/apt_preferences.5.xml101
1 files changed, 96 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml b/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml
index 162c2f00e..159d61f2b 100644
--- a/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml
+++ b/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml
@@ -14,12 +14,13 @@
&apt-email;
&apt-product;
<!-- The last update date -->
- <date>29 February 2004</date>
+ <date>04 May 2009</date>
</refentryinfo>
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>apt_preferences</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
+ <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<!-- Man page title -->
@@ -31,7 +32,8 @@
<refsect1>
<title>Description</title>
<para>The APT preferences file <filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename>
-can be used to control which versions of packages will be selected
+and the fragment files in the <filename>/etc/apt/preferences.d/</filename>
+folder can be used to control which versions of packages will be selected
for installation.</para>
<para>Several versions of a package may be available for installation when
@@ -191,6 +193,15 @@ Pin-Priority: 50
</programlisting>
<simpara>The following record assigns a high priority to all package versions
+belonging to any distribution whose Codename is "<literal>squeeze</literal>".</simpara>
+
+<programlisting>
+Package: *
+Pin: release n=squeeze
+Pin-Priority: 900
+</programlisting>
+
+<simpara>The following record assigns a high priority to all package versions
belonging to any release whose Archive name is "<literal>stable</literal>"
and whose release Version number is "<literal>3.0</literal>".</simpara>
@@ -327,10 +338,11 @@ file are relevant for setting APT priorities:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
-<term>the <literal>Archive:</literal> line</term>
+<term>the <literal>Archive:</literal> or <literal>Suite:</literal> line</term>
<listitem><simpara>names the archive to which all the packages
in the directory tree belong. For example, the line
-"Archive: stable"
+"Archive: stable" or
+"Suite: stable"
specifies that all of the packages in the directory
tree below the parent of the <filename>Release</filename> file are in a
<literal>stable</literal> archive. Specifying this value in the APT preferences file
@@ -343,6 +355,22 @@ Pin: release a=stable
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
+<term>the <literal>Codename:</literal> line</term>
+<listitem><simpara>names the codename to which all the packages
+in the directory tree belong. For example, the line
+"Codename: squeeze"
+specifies that all of the packages in the directory
+tree below the parent of the <filename>Release</filename> file belong to a version named
+<literal>squeeze</literal>. Specifying this value in the APT preferences file
+would require the line:
+</simpara>
+<programlisting>
+Pin: release n=squeeze
+</programlisting>
+</listitem>
+</varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry>
<term>the <literal>Version:</literal> line</term>
<listitem><simpara>names the release version. For example, the
packages in the tree might belong to Debian GNU/Linux release
@@ -522,11 +550,75 @@ version.
apt-get install <replaceable>package</replaceable>/unstable
</programlisting>
</para>
+</refsect2>
+
+<refsect2>
+<title>Tracking the evolution of a codename release</title>
+
+<para>The following APT preferences file will cause APT to assign a
+priority higher than the default (500) to all package versions belonging
+to a specified codename of a distribution and a prohibitively low priority to
+package versions belonging to other <literal>Debian</literal> distributions,
+codenames and archives.
+Note that with this APT preference APT will follow the migration of a release
+from the archive <literal>testing</literal> to <literal>stable</literal> and
+later <literal>oldstable</literal>. If you want to follow for example the progress
+in <literal>testing</literal> notwithstanding the codename changes you should use
+the example configurations above.
+
+<programlisting>
+Explanation: Uninstall or do not install any Debian-originated package versions
+Explanation: other than those in the distribution codenamed with squeeze or sid
+Package: *
+Pin: release n=squeeze
+Pin-Priority: 900
+
+Explanation: Debian unstable is always codenamed with sid
+Package: *
+Pin: release a=sid
+Pin-Priority: 800
+
+Package: *
+Pin: release o=Debian
+Pin-Priority: -10
+</programlisting>
+</para>
+
+<para>With a suitable &sources-list; file and the above preferences file,
+any of the following commands will cause APT to upgrade to the
+latest version(s) in the release codenamed with <literal>squeeze</literal>.
+
+<programlisting>
+apt-get install <replaceable>package-name</replaceable>
+apt-get upgrade
+apt-get dist-upgrade
+</programlisting>
+</para>
+
+<para>The following command will cause APT to upgrade the specified
+package to the latest version from the <literal>sid</literal> distribution.
+Thereafter, <command>apt-get upgrade</command> will upgrade
+the package to the most recent <literal>squeeze</literal> version if that is
+more recent than the installed version, otherwise, to the most recent
+<literal>sid</literal> version if that is more recent than the installed
+version.
+
+<programlisting>
+apt-get install <replaceable>package</replaceable>/sid
+</programlisting>
+</para>
</refsect2>
</refsect1>
<refsect1>
+<title>Files</title>
+ <variablelist>
+ &file-preferences;
+ </variablelist>
+</refsect1>
+
+<refsect1>
<title>See Also</title>
<para>&apt-get; &apt-cache; &apt-conf; &sources-list;
</para>
@@ -535,4 +627,3 @@ apt-get install <replaceable>package</replaceable>/unstable
&manbugs;
</refentry>
-