[Bug 2100937] Re: apt install --mark-auto does not retain auto mark

[Jarno Suni]

man page of apt-get tells:

--mark-auto
           After successful installation, mark all freshly installed packages as automatically installed, which will cause each of the packages to be removed when no more manually installed packages depend on this package. This is equally to running apt-mark auto for all installed packages. Configuration Item: APT::Get::Mark-Auto.

That is not true, because --mark-auto might not mark the package as
auto.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2100937

Title:
  apt install --mark-auto does not retain auto mark

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  e.g.

  1) sudo apt install ppa-purge
  2) sudo apt-mark auto ppa-purge
  3) sudo apt install --mark-auto ppa-purge

  Expected result:
  ppa-purge is marked as auto
  What happend:
  ppa-purge is marked as manual

  If line (2) is omitted, I think the result should be manual, even if
  it is unintuitive. At least I need a way to retain the auto/manual
  status when I install a package (without --reinstall) a version of
  which is already installed no matter which auto/manual status the
  previously installed package has. i.e. I want an option to retain the
  auto/manual status of the old package when I use "apt install
  pkg/target_release", because I want auto-removing work as expected
  thereafter. It is debatable what should the status be, if there was no
  package installed before.

  BTW ppa-purge relies on "apt install" marking packages with the right
  auto status, but it doesn't seem to work now. We need clear
  documentation about when auto status is changed.

  See also https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/786177/111181

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
  Package: apt 2.7.14build2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-54.56-generic 6.8.12
  Uname: Linux 6.8.0-54-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu3.3
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  Date: Wed Mar  5 13:03:48 2025
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-12-05 (1917 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to noble on 2025-01-12 (52 days ago)

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