[Bug 2018182] [NEW] apt-config manual page should give clear information

[Jarno Suni]

Public bug reported:

So I RTFM.

Manual page does not tell you can give arguments to dump command. It
seems like you can give configuration variable(s) as argument(s), but I
don't know since which version of apt that is.

What does this mean: "All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean options you can override the config file by using something like -f-,--no-f, -f=no or several other variations."
So I have command line option --help. How/why would I set that using the configuration file (which is what)? Which boolean options? Maybe an example would be good here.

Why give the default behavior as an option --empty, but only mention
--no-empty in the description of ---empty?

The documentation of option --option tells you can set a "Configuration
Option" by it. But it does not seem to change the value so that the
value could be queried subsequently by another call to apt-config. It
can change the value in output of the command where -o is present, but
what is the point (of e.g. "apt-config shell -o
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade=2 var APT::Periodic::Unattended-
Upgrade" when I could just write "var=2")?

See related question: https://askubuntu.com/questions/423596/can-apt-
config-modify-apt-config

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: apt 2.0.9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-69.76~20.04.1-generic 5.15.87
Uname: Linux 5.15.0-69-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.26
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Sun Apr 30 11:24:53 2023
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-12-05 (1241 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
SourcePackage: apt
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-07-10 (1023 days ago)

** Affects: apt (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2018182

Title:
  apt-config manual page should give clear information

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  So I RTFM.

  Manual page does not tell you can give arguments to dump command. It
  seems like you can give configuration variable(s) as argument(s), but
  I don't know since which version of apt that is.

  What does this mean: "All command line options may be set using the configuration file, the descriptions indicate the configuration option to set. For boolean options you can override the config file by using something like -f-,--no-f, -f=no or several other variations."
  So I have command line option --help. How/why would I set that using the configuration file (which is what)? Which boolean options? Maybe an example would be good here.

  Why give the default behavior as an option --empty, but only mention
  --no-empty in the description of ---empty?

  The documentation of option --option tells you can set a
  "Configuration Option" by it. But it does not seem to change the value
  so that the value could be queried subsequently by another call to
  apt-config. It can change the value in output of the command where -o
  is present, but what is the point (of e.g. "apt-config shell -o
  APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade=2 var APT::Periodic::Unattended-
  Upgrade" when I could just write "var=2")?

  See related question: https://askubuntu.com/questions/423596/can-apt-
  config-modify-apt-config

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: apt 2.0.9
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-69.76~20.04.1-generic 5.15.87
  Uname: Linux 5.15.0-69-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.26
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  Date: Sun Apr 30 11:24:53 2023
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-12-05 (1241 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-07-10 (1023 days ago)

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