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apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable?

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  apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable? Kynn Jones <kynnjo@gmail.com> - 2015-11-20 16:10 +0100
    Re: apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable? Martin Read <zen75502@zen.co.uk> - 2015-11-20 17:30 +0100
      Re: apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to  stable? <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2015-11-20 21:00 +0100
      Re: apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable? Kynn Jones <kynnjo@gmail.com> - 2015-11-22 23:10 +0100
    Re: apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to  stable? Darac Marjal <mailinglist@darac.org.uk> - 2015-11-20 17:30 +0100

#160858 — apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable?

OK, I start with my 100% `stable` (`jessie`) system up-to-date.  IOW,
after `apt-get update`, `apt-get upgrade` reports that there are no
candidates for upgrading:

    % sudo apt-get upgrade
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    Calculating upgrade... Done
    0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Now, I add to my `/etc/apt/sources.list` file the last two lines shown below:

    deb       http://http.us.debian.org/debian     jessie
main   contrib   non-free
    deb-src   http://http.us.debian.org/debian     jessie
main   contrib

    deb       http://http.us.debian.org/debian     jessie-updates
main   contrib
    deb-src   http://http.us.debian.org/debian     jessie-updates
main   contrib

    deb       http://security.debian.org/          jessie/updates
main   contrib   non-free
    deb-src   http://security.debian.org/          jessie/updates
main   contrib   non-free

    deb       http://http.us.debian.org/debian     stretch
main   contrib   non-free
    deb-src   http://http.us.debian.org/debian     stretch
main   contrib

Also, I set the contents of my `/etc/apt/preferences` file to this
(the file was empty before):

    Package: *
      Pin: release a=stable

(BTW, both my `/etc/apt/sources.list.d` and `/etc/apt/preferences.d`
directories are empty.)

Then, I re-run `apt-get update`.

Given the contents of my `/etc/apt/preferences` file, which specifies
that everything should be pinned at `stable`, I expected that the two
new lines in my `/etc/apt/sources.list` would be essentially
irrelevant.  In particular, I expected that `apt-get upgrade` would
still report that there was nothing to upgrade.

To my surprise, this is far from the case: the `apt-get upgrade`
dialog reports: "962 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 590
not upgraded."

How come there are any upgrades at all (let alone hundreds of them)
when `/etc/apt/preferences` requires that everything sould be pinned
at `stable`?

Thanks in advance!

kj

P.S. FWIW, ultimately, what I want to perform a very controlled,
tightly-targeted upgrade of my R-related packages (i.e. `r-base` and
friends) to `stretch`/`testing`.  IOW, I want to keep the non-`jessie`
packages installed in my system to the absolute minimum that is
compatible with upgrading R to `stretch`/`testing`.

I thought that setting my `/etc/apt/preferences` file as shown below,
coupled with the `/etc/apt/sources.list` file shown earlier, would do
the trick:

    Package: *
      Pin: release a=stable

    Package: r-*
      Pin: release a=testing

But my complete failure to predict the results of the experiment
described in the main part of this post tells me that I probably have
the whole thing wrong.

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#160862

On 20/11/15 15:07, Kynn Jones wrote:
> Also, I set the contents of my `/etc/apt/preferences` file to this
> (the file was empty before):
>
>      Package: *
>        Pin: release a=stable

Looking at the Debian wiki's page on APT preferences[1] and comparing to 
your file, I notice that you haven't specified a Pin-Priority for this pin.

> P.S. FWIW, ultimately, what I want to perform a very controlled,
> tightly-targeted upgrade of my R-related packages (i.e. `r-base` and
> friends) to `stretch`/`testing`.  IOW, I want to keep the non-`jessie`
> packages installed in my system to the absolute minimum that is
> compatible with upgrading R to `stretch`/`testing`.

Just so you know, this is a discouraged[2] (and completely unsupported) 
configuration.

[1] https://wiki.debian.org/AptPreferences
[2] https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian

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#160875 — Re: apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable?

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On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 04:20:29PM +0000, Martin Read wrote:

[...]

> Just so you know, this is a discouraged[2] (and completely
> unsupported) configuration.

> [2] https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian

This is generally good advice. That said, I'm running a FrankenDebian
right now and it has served me well for the better part of a year. But
inconsistencies do accumulate and you pay a price in trying to keep
the system together.

At some time, the urge to upgrade to an homogeneous system grows :-)

Regards
- -- tomás
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#161008

On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 11:20 AM, Martin Read <zen75502@zen.co.uk> wrote:
> On 20/11/15 15:07, Kynn Jones wrote:
>>
>> Also, I set the contents of my `/etc/apt/preferences` file to this
>> (the file was empty before):
>>
>>      Package: *
>>        Pin: release a=stable
>
>
> Looking at the Debian wiki's page on APT preferences[1] and comparing to
> your file, I notice that you haven't specified a Pin-Priority for this pin.

Thanks for pointing this out.  After much trial-and-error, I settled
for using this as the contents of my `preferences` file:

    Package: /^r-/
    Pin: release n=stretch
    Pin-Priority: 995

Now, when I run `apt-get dist-upgrade`, the proposed changes make more
sense to me.

But, WARNING to anyone who comes across this post: Use the above
configs at your own risk.  This is (still!) all voodoo to me,
unfortunately.

Even after having read the documentation, it still happens with
distressing frequency (maybe a third of the time?) that `apt-get`
proposes actions that make absolutely no sense to me.  IOW, I hardly
understand `apt-get` at all.

Best,

kj

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#160863 — Re: apt-get: why massive upgrade despite pinning everything to stable?

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 10:07:49AM -0500, Kynn Jones wrote:

>OK, I start with my 100% `stable` (`jessie`) system up-to-date. IOW, 
>after `apt-get update`, `apt-get upgrade` reports that there are no 
>candidates for upgrading:
>
>    % sudo apt-get upgrade Reading package lists... Done Building 
>    dependency tree Reading state information... Done Calculating 
>    upgrade... Done 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 
>    not upgraded.
>
>Now, I add to my `/etc/apt/sources.list` file the last two lines shown 
>below:
>
>    deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie main contrib non-free 
>deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie main contrib
>
>    deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie-updates main contrib 
>deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian jessie-updates main contrib
>
>    deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib 
>non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main 
>contrib non-free
>
>    deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stretch main contrib non-free 
>deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian stretch main contrib
>
>Also, I set the contents of my `/etc/apt/preferences` file to this (the 
>file was empty before):
>
>    Package: * Pin: release a=stable
>
>(BTW, both my `/etc/apt/sources.list.d` and `/etc/apt/preferences.d` 
>directories are empty.)

Not a direct answer to your question, but try adding 

APT::Default-Release "stable";

to a file in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d (for example 
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99-default-release).

>
>Then, I re-run `apt-get update`.
>
>Given the contents of my `/etc/apt/preferences` file, which specifies 
>that everything should be pinned at `stable`, I expected that the 
>two new lines in my `/etc/apt/sources.list` would be essentially 
>irrelevant. In particular, I expected that `apt-get upgrade` would 
>still report that there was nothing to upgrade.
>
>To my surprise, this is far from the case: the `apt-get upgrade` dialog 
>reports: "962 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 590 not 
>upgraded."
>
>How come there are any upgrades at all (let alone hundreds of them) 
>when `/etc/apt/preferences` requires that everything sould be pinned at 
>`stable`?
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
>kj
>
>P.S. FWIW, ultimately, what I want to perform a very controlled, 
>tightly-targeted upgrade of my R-related packages (i.e. `r-base` and 
>friends) to `stretch`/`testing`. IOW, I want to keep the non-`jessie` 
>packages installed in my system to the absolute minimum that is 
>compatible with upgrading R to `stretch`/`testing`.
>
>I thought that setting my `/etc/apt/preferences` file as shown below, 
>coupled with the `/etc/apt/sources.list` file shown earlier, would do 
>the trick:
>
>    Package: * Pin: release a=stable
>
>    Package: r-* Pin: release a=testing
>
>But my complete failure to predict the results of the experiment 
>described in the main part of this post tells me that I probably have 
>the whole thing wrong.
>

-- For more information, please reread.

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