[vox] Re: A Criticism of Debian Testing

[Richard Ibbotson]

> I think I need to look at the documentation that Karsten cited to
> see if I can upgrade some packages, and at the same time prevent
> others from being removed.

To avoid having to read 60 pages of outdated junk have a look at this 
in your web browser....

file:///usr/share/doc/Debian/reference/ch-system.en.html#s-package-basics

"  With dpkg, first export the list of package selections:          
dpkg --get-selections \* > selections.txt
Then edit the resulting file selections.txt, changing the line 
containing the package you wish to hold, e.g. libc6, from this:

     libc6                       install

to this:

     libc6                       hold

Save the file, and reload it into dpkg database with:

     dpkg --set-selections < selections.txt

Or, if you know the package name to hold, simply run:

     echo libc6 hold | dpkg --set-selections "


That combined with some advanced apt-get and aptitude magic should 
help.



-- 
Richard