apt/preferences.d: A Useful Example

bgstack15

2023-11-07 09:12

I used to use apt-mark to hold packages, but I never dug far enough to learn where it stores this state. I found a much easier way to hold a package: pin it in preferences!

Make a file, e.g. /etc/apt/preferences.d/krb5-auth-dialog with contents:

Package: krb5-auth-dialog
Version: 3.26.1-4
Pin: release
Pin-Priority: 1000

So now apt-cache policy shows the following:

$ apt-cache policy krb5-auth-dialog
krb5-auth-dialog:
  Installed: 3.26.1-4
  Candidate: 3.26.1-4
  Version table:
     43.0-1+b1 500
        500 http://www.example.com/mirror/devuan ceres/main amd64 Packages
 *** 3.26.1-4 1000
        500 http://www.example.com/internal/repo/devuan-deb  Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

For the exact reason of this example package, see krb5-auth-dialog and the news.

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