Help controlling synaptic

[Pongo A. Pan]

On Sun, 2011-04-10 at 19:22 -0700, don fisher wrote:
> I use synaptic package manager to update my system. I do not wish it to 
> update Thunderbird. I assume that if I can find out where it keeps a 
> list of what is installed, I could remove references to Thunderbird and 
> it would not search for updates.
> 
> Where does synaptic keep the list of installed applications? Id this a 
> valid approach?
> 
> Thanks
> 

Dunno if there's something in synaptic to do this, but it is possible
with the underlying program apt-get.  See man apt_preferences.  It is
called "pinning."  Basically, you set up a list of applications:versions
*not* to be upgraded and stick it in /etc/apt/preferences.  This should
work for synaptic as well.

I did it once long ago; I don't remember any problems with it except
initially being slightly overwhelmed by man apt_preferences.


-- 
pongo pan