[vox-tech] Apt vs. Compiling

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Robert G. Scofield (scofield at omsoft.com):

> This looks like a fun and easy solution.  But here's a question.  What
> do I do after Step 4 to keep other unstable packages from non-free and
> contrib from being installed?  Is that problem taken care of by
> /etc/apt/preferences?  Or should I remove preferences and then delete
> the references to "unstable" in the sources.list?

It's taken care of by /etc/apt/preferences.  That trickly little stanza
that I suggested for the is, as mentioned, one use of apt's "pinning"
feature, and in particular says "assign priority level 50 to
unstable-branch packages".  Priority 100 is normal, so the net effect of
such a low number is that unstable-branch packages (plus their 
specific dependencies) get pulled down only when you specify 
"-t unstable" explicitly.

I've personally used that trick with great success on my main server,
among other things.  Your machine follows the "testing" track, with only
explicitly specified, as-needed pulls from the "unstable" one.

Debian developers tend to frown when I mention that specific use of
"pinning", since I'm sort of using it in a bass-ackwards fashion,
relative to the usual.  However, it works.