[Bug 1988819] Re: When apt keeps back packages due to phased updates, it should say nothing

[Benjamin Schmid]

Even as a decade-old Ubuntu user this "The following packages have been
kept back:" was a UX nightmare for me. It took me several runs of
article reading, many unsuccessful "apt-mark showhold", breaking "apt
install X" runs and still no clue at all about the background on these
errors suddenly reappearing on 22.04 systems. I was this days old when I
eventually was able to realize that this is all about "phased upgrades".

The implementation or effect from a UX is really utterly opaque. I'd go
as far as to suggest: Refrain from phased upgrades until Ubuntu is able
to signal apt users the reasons for packages held back!

In my decade-old history, "packages kept back" were 100% always some
really, really bad borked stuff, i.e., on dist-upgrades. Always
something to take immediate care about to not threat system integrity or
automatic updates and hence threatening hence the system security. A
reason why it never occurred to me to just ignore those line.

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Title:
  When apt keeps back packages due to phased updates, it should say
  nothing

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