[Bug 1694989] Re: apt-mark overwrites existing held package info

[David Kalnischkies]

Is it really /any/ which I can't confirm at the moment as holding e.g.
apt & dpkg works just fine…

The underlying question is: Are the packages you are trying to hold
installed? If not, dpkg will accept the hold at first and record it (so
apt will report it on showhold again), but as soon as the dpkg/status
file is modified again (e.g. with another hold), the record for the
uninstalled package is cleaned up removing the hold.

That is intended behavior by dpkg upstream according to earlier talks
(and in there since ever, but I think the situations in which cleanup
happens increased over time). We were thinking of having some way of
having dpkg store such info even for not installed packages, but then
life (& freeze) happened I guess, so there is nothing to show off apart
from "yeah, we should be doing something, maybe".

Perhaps we should just change apt to not accept holds for non-installed
packages until that is resolved in some way.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1694989

Title:
  apt-mark overwrites existing held package info

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Running apt-mark hold commands overwrites / nullifies any existing
  held package data. Not sure if this is by design, but I assume it's
  meant to be cumulative.

  Ubuntu version: 16.04.2 LTS
  Package version: apt 1.2.19 amd64

  Expected behaviour:

  apt-mark hold 3dchess
  apt-mark hold 0ad
  apt-mark showhold

  3dchess
  0ad

  Actual behaviour:

  apt-mark hold 3dchess
  apt-mark hold 0ad
  apt-mark showhold

  0ad

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