APT_PREFERENCES(5) APT APT_PREFERENCES(5)NAME
apt_preferences - Preference control file for APT
DESCRIPTION
The APT preferences file /etc/apt/preferences and the fragment files in
the /etc/apt/preferences.d/ folder can be used to control which
versions of packages will be selected for installation.
Several versions of a package may be available for installation when
the sources.list(5) file contains references to more than one
distribution (for example, stable and testing). APT assigns a priority
to each version that is available. Subject to dependency constraints,
apt-get selects the version with the highest priority for installation.
The APT preferences override the priorities that APT assigns to package
versions by default, thus giving the user control over which one is
selected for installation.
Several instances of the same version of a package may be available
when the sources.list(5) file contains references to more than one
source. In this case apt-get downloads the instance listed earliest in
the sources.list(5) file. The APT preferences do not affect the choice
of instance, only the choice of version.
Preferences are a strong power in the hands of a system administrator
but they can become also their biggest nightmare if used without care!
APT will not question the preferences, so wrong settings can lead to
uninstallable packages or wrong decisions while upgrading packages.
Even more problems will arise if multiple distribution releases are
mixed without a good understanding of the following paragraphs.
Packages included in a specific release aren't tested in (and therefore
don't always work as expected in) older or newer releases, or together
with other packages from different releases. You have been warned.
Note that the files in the /etc/apt/preferences.d directory are parsed
in alphanumeric ascending order and need to obey the following naming
convention: The files have either no or "pref" as filename extension
and only contain alphanumeric, hyphen (-), underscore (_) and period
(.) characters. Otherwise APT will print a notice that it has ignored a
file, unless that file matches a pattern in the
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently configuration list - in which case it will
be silently ignored.
APT's Default Priority Assignments
If there is no preferences file or if there is no entry in the file
that applies to a particular version then the priority assigned to that
version is the priority of the distribution to which that version
belongs. It is possible to single out a distribution, "the target
release", which receives a higher priority than other distributions do
by default. The target release can be set on the apt-get command line
or in the APT configuration file /etc/apt/apt.conf. Note that this has
precedence over any general priority you set in the
/etc/apt/preferences file described later, but not over specifically
pinned packages. For example,
apt-get install -t testing some-package
APT::Default-Release "stable";
If the target release has been specified then APT uses the following
algorithm to set the priorities of the versions of a package. Assign:
priority 1
to the versions coming from archives which in their Release files
are marked as "NotAutomatic: yes" but not as "ButAutomaticUpgrades:
yes" like the Debian experimental archive.
priority 100
to the version that is already installed (if any) and to the
versions coming from archives which in their Release files are
marked as "NotAutomatic: yes" and "ButAutomaticUpgrades: yes" like
the Debian backports archive since squeeze-backports.
priority 500
to the versions that do not belong to the target release.
priority 990
to the versions that belong to the target release.
The highest of those priorities whose description matches the version
is assigned to the version.
If the target release has not been specified then APT simply assigns
priority 100 to all installed package versions and priority 500 to all
uninstalled package versions, except versions coming from archives
which in their Release files are marked as "NotAutomatic: yes" - these
versions get the priority 1 or priority 100 if it is additionally
marked as "ButAutomaticUpgrades: yes".
APT then applies the following rules, listed in order of precedence, to
determine which version of a package to install.
· Never downgrade unless the priority of an available version exceeds
1000. ("Downgrading" is installing a less recent version of a
package in place of a more recent version. Note that none of APT's
default priorities exceeds 1000; such high priorities can only be
set in the preferences file. Note also that downgrading a package
can be risky.)
· Install the highest priority version.
· If two or more versions have the same priority, install the most
recent one (that is, the one with the higher version number).
· If two or more versions have the same priority and version number
but either the packages differ in some of their metadata or the
--reinstall option is given, install the uninstalled one.
In a typical situation, the installed version of a package (priority
100) is not as recent as one of the versions available from the sources
listed in the sources.list(5) file (priority 500 or 990). Then the
package will be upgraded when apt-get install some-package or apt-get
upgrade is executed.
More rarely, the installed version of a package is more recent than any
of the other available versions. The package will not be downgraded
when apt-get install some-package or apt-get upgrade is executed.
Sometimes the installed version of a package is more recent than the
version belonging to the target release, but not as recent as a version
belonging to some other distribution. Such a package will indeed be
upgraded when apt-get install some-package or apt-get upgrade is
executed, because at least one of the available versions has a higher
priority than the installed version.
The Effect of APT Preferences
The APT preferences file allows the system administrator to control the
assignment of priorities. The file consists of one or more multi-line
records separated by blank lines. Records can have one of two forms, a
specific form and a general form.
· The specific form assigns a priority (a "Pin-Priority") to one or
more specified packages with a specified version or version range.
For example, the following record assigns a high priority to all
versions of the perl package whose version number begins with
"5.20". Multiple packages can be separated by spaces.
Package: perl
Pin: version 5.20*
Pin-Priority: 1001
· The general form assigns a priority to all of the package versions
in a given distribution (that is, to all the versions of packages
that are listed in a certain Release file) or to all of the package
versions coming from a particular Internet site, as identified by
the site's fully qualified domain name.
This general-form entry in the APT preferences file applies only to
groups of packages. For example, the following record assigns a
high priority to all package versions available from the local
site.
Package: *
Pin: origin ""
Pin-Priority: 999
A note of caution: the keyword used here is "origin" which can be
used to match a hostname. The following record will assign a high
priority to all versions available from the server identified by
the hostname "ftp.de.debian.org"
Package: *
Pin: origin "ftp.de.debian.org"
Pin-Priority: 999
This should not be confused with the Origin of a distribution as
specified in a Release file. What follows the "Origin:" tag in a
Release file is not an Internet address but an author or vendor
name, such as "Debian" or "Ximian".
The following record assigns a low priority to all package versions
belonging to any distribution whose Archive name is "unstable".
Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 50
The following record assigns a high priority to all package
versions belonging to any distribution whose Codename is "buster".
Package: *
Pin: release n=buster
Pin-Priority: 900
The following record assigns a high priority to all package
versions belonging to any release whose Archive name is "stable"
and whose release Version number is "9".
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable, v=9
Pin-Priority: 500
The effect of the comma operator is similar to an "and" in logic: All
conditions must be satisfied for the pin to match. There is one
exception: For any type of condition (such as two "a" conditions), only
the last such condition is checked.
Regular expressions and glob(7) syntax
APT also supports pinning by glob(7) expressions, and regular
expressions surrounded by slashes. For example, the following example
assigns the priority 500 to all packages from experimental where the
name starts with gnome (as a glob(7)-like expression) or contains the
word kde (as a POSIX extended regular expression surrounded by
slashes).
Package: gnome* /kde/
Pin: release a=experimental
Pin-Priority: 500
The rule for those expressions is that they can occur anywhere where a
string can occur. Thus, the following pin assigns the priority 990 to
all packages from a release starting with xenial.
Package: *
Pin: release n=xenial*
Pin-Priority: 990
If a regular expression occurs in a Package field, the behavior is the
same as if this regular expression were replaced with a list of all
package names it matches. It is undecided whether this will change in
the future; thus you should always list wild-card pins first, so later
specific pins override it. The pattern "*" in a Package field is not
considered a glob(7) expression in itself.
How APT Interprets Priorities
Priorities (P) assigned in the APT preferences file must be positive or
negative integers. They are interpreted as follows (roughly speaking):
P >= 1000
causes a version to be installed even if this constitutes a
downgrade of the package
990 <= P < 1000
causes a version to be installed even if it does not come from the
target release, unless the installed version is more recent
500 <= P < 990
causes a version to be installed unless there is a version
available belonging to the target release or the installed version
is more recent
100 <= P < 500
causes a version to be installed unless there is a version
available belonging to some other distribution or the installed
version is more recent
0 < P < 100
causes a version to be installed only if there is no installed
version of the package
P < 0
prevents the version from being installed
P = 0
has undefined behaviour, do not use it.
The first specific-form record matching an available package version
determines the priority of the package version. Failing that, the
priority of the package is defined as the maximum of all priorities
defined by generic-form records matching the version. Records defined
using patterns in the Pin field other than "*" are treated like
specific-form records.
For example, suppose the APT preferences file contains the three
records presented earlier:
Package: perl
Pin: version 5.20*
Pin-Priority: 1001
Package: *
Pin: origin ""
Pin-Priority: 999
Package: *
Pin: release unstable
Pin-Priority: 50
Then:
· The most recent available version of the perl package will be
installed, so long as that version's version number begins with
"5.20". If any 5.20* version of perl is available and the installed
version is 5.24*, then perl will be downgraded.
· A version of any package other than perl that is available from the
local system has priority over other versions, even versions
belonging to the target release.
· A version of a package whose origin is not the local system but
some other site listed in sources.list(5) and which belongs to an
unstable distribution is only installed if it is selected for
installation and no version of the package is already installed.
Determination of Package Version and Distribution Properties
The locations listed in the sources.list(5) file should provide
Packages and Release files to describe the packages available at that
location.
The Packages file is normally found in the directory
.../dists/dist-name/component/arch: for example,
.../dists/stable/main/binary-i386/Packages. It consists of a series of
multi-line records, one for each package available in that directory.
Only two lines in each record are relevant for setting APT priorities:
the Package: line
gives the package name
the Version: line
gives the version number for the named package
The Release file is normally found in the directory
.../dists/dist-name: for example, .../dists/stable/Release, or
.../dists/stretch/Release. It consists of a single multi-line record
which applies to all of the packages in the directory tree below its
parent. Unlike the Packages file, nearly all of the lines in a Release
file are relevant for setting APT priorities:
the Archive: or Suite: line
names the archive to which all the packages in the directory tree
belong. For example, the line "Archive: stable" or "Suite: stable"
specifies that all of the packages in the directory tree below the
parent of the Release file are in a stable archive. Specifying this
value in the APT preferences file would require the line:
Pin: release a=stable
the Codename: line
names the codename to which all the packages in the directory tree
belong. For example, the line "Codename: buster" specifies that all
of the packages in the directory tree below the parent of the
Release file belong to a version named buster. Specifying this
value in the APT preferences file would require the line:
Pin: release n=buster
the Version: line
names the release version. For example, the packages in the tree
might belong to Debian release version 9. Note that there is
normally no version number for the testing and unstable
distributions because they have not been released yet. Specifying
this in the APT preferences file would require one of the following
lines.
Pin: release v=9
Pin: release a=stable, v=9
Pin: release 9
the Component: line
names the licensing component associated with the packages in the
directory tree of the Release file. For example, the line
"Component: main" specifies that all the packages in the directory
tree are from the main component, which entails that they are
licensed under terms listed in the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
Specifying this component in the APT preferences file would require
the line:
Pin: release c=main
the Origin: line
names the originator of the packages in the directory tree of the
Release file. Most commonly, this is Debian. Specifying this origin
in the APT preferences file would require the line:
Pin: release o=Debian
the Label: line
names the label of the packages in the directory tree of the
Release file. Most commonly, this is Debian. Specifying this label
in the APT preferences file would require the line:
Pin: release l=Debian
All of the Packages and Release files retrieved from locations listed
in the sources.list(5) file are stored in the directory
/var/lib/apt/lists, or in the file named by the variable
Dir::State::Lists in the apt.conf file. For example, the file
debian.lcs.mit.edu_debian_dists_unstable_contrib_binary-i386_Release
contains the Release file retrieved from the site debian.lcs.mit.edu
for binary-i386 architecture files from the contrib component of the
unstable distribution.
Optional Lines in an APT Preferences Record
Each record in the APT preferences file can optionally begin with one
or more lines beginning with the word Explanation:. This provides a
place for comments.
EXAMPLES
Tracking Stable
The following APT preferences file will cause APT to assign a priority
higher than the default (500) to all package versions belonging to a
stable distribution and a prohibitively low priority to package
versions belonging to other Debian distributions.
Explanation: Uninstall or do not install any Debian-originated
Explanation: package versions other than those in the stable distro
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 900
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -10
With a suitable sources.list(5) file and the above preferences file,
any of the following commands will cause APT to upgrade to the latest
stable version(s).
apt-get install package-name
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
The following command will cause APT to upgrade the specified package
to the latest version from the testing distribution; the package will
not be upgraded again unless this command is given again.
apt-get install package/testing
Tracking Testing or Unstable
The following APT preferences file will cause APT to assign a high
priority to package versions from the testing distribution, a lower
priority to package versions from the unstable distribution, and a
prohibitively low priority to package versions from other Debian
distributions.
Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 900
Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 800
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -10
With a suitable sources.list(5) file and the above preferences file,
any of the following commands will cause APT to upgrade to the latest
testing version(s).
apt-get install package-name
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
The following command will cause APT to upgrade the specified package
to the latest version from the unstable distribution. Thereafter,
apt-get upgrade will upgrade the package to the most recent testing
version if that is more recent than the installed version, otherwise,
to the most recent unstable version if that is more recent than the
installed version.
apt-get install package/unstable
Tracking the evolution of a codename release
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 Debian distributions, codenames
and archives. Note that with this APT preference APT will follow the
migration of a release from the archive testing to stable and later
oldstable. If you want to follow for example the progress in testing
notwithstanding the codename changes you should use the example
configurations above.
Explanation: Uninstall or do not install any Debian-originated package versions
Explanation: other than those in the distribution codenamed with buster or sid
Package: *
Pin: release n=buster
Pin-Priority: 900
Explanation: Debian unstable is always codenamed with sid
Package: *
Pin: release n=sid
Pin-Priority: 800
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -10
With a suitable sources.list(5) 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 buster.
apt-get install package-name
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
The following command will cause APT to upgrade the specified package
to the latest version from the sid distribution. Thereafter, apt-get
upgrade will upgrade the package to the most recent buster version if
that is more recent than the installed version, otherwise, to the most
recent sid version if that is more recent than the installed version.
apt-get install package/sid
FILES
/etc/apt/preferences
Version preferences file. This is where you would specify
"pinning", i.e. a preference to get certain packages from a
separate source or from a different version of a distribution.
Configuration Item: Dir::Etc::Preferences.
/etc/apt/preferences.d/
File fragments for the version preferences. Configuration Item:
Dir::Etc::PreferencesParts.
SEE ALSOapt-get(8)apt-cache(8)apt.conf(5)sources.list(5)BUGS
APT bug page[1]. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see
/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the reportbug(1) command.
AUTHOR
APT team
NOTES
1. APT bug page
http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt
APT 1.6~alpha6 15 August 2015 APT_PREFERENCES(5)
