[Bug 2148195] Re: "apt-get install pkg/target-release" may upgrade regardless of APT preferences

[Jarno Suni]

Could you be more elaborate? If I run e.g. "apt install p/noble-
updates", the target is a suite, not just a release. Anyway, even if
noble means codename as such, my main point is that it is unexpected
that "apt install p/noble" does not take into account APT preferences
and more specifically priorities. It would be handy, if after trying a
proposed package like "apt install p/noble-proposed" you could revert by
"apt install p/noble" when noble-proposed has a lower APT priority.

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Title:
  "apt-get install pkg/target-release" may upgrade regardless of APT
  preferences

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  $ lsb_release -a
  No LSB modules are available.
  Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
  Description:	Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
  Release:	24.04
  Codename:	noble

  Say you have a package p that has a newer version in noble-proposed
  suite than what is already installed. Then

  sudo apt-get install p/noble
  or 
  sudo apt-get install p/24.04

  may upgrade p even if "apt policy" tells noble-proposed had lower
  priority than say noble or noble-updates. On the other hand, if the
  version from noble-proposed was installed, the command above will not
  downgrade to a version that would be correct according to priority
  settings in APT preferences.

  I expect APT preferences to be taken into account unless the suite is given explicitly like e.g.
  sudo apt-get install p/noble-proposed

  Even better, I want to have an easy way to synchronize the versions of
  packages to the versions matching current repository specifications
  and APT priorities i.e. to versions that would be freshly installed by
  apt install, i.e. apt install p, for package p, if p was not installed
  beforehand.

  Note that noble is ambiguous in the syntax as it may mean the target
  release 24.04 or the release suite of  release 24.04.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
  Package: apt 2.8.3
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.17.0-20.20~24.04.1-generic 6.17.13
  Uname: Linux 6.17.0-20-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu3.8
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
  CurrentDesktop: XFCE
  Date: Mon Apr 13 14:49:04 2026
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-12-05 (2321 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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