Chapter 6. Basics of the Debian package management system

32

  hold   the user wants this package not to be processed, i.e., he wants to keep the current

version with the current status whatever that is.

6.12 How do I put a package on hold?

There are three ways of holding back packages, with dpkg, aptitude or with dselect.

With dpkg, you just have to export the list of package selections, with:

dpkg   get selections \* > selections.txt

Then edit the resulting file

selections.txt

, change the line containing the package you

wish to hold, e.g.

libc6

, from this:

libc6

install

to this:

libc6

hold

Save the file, and reload it into dpkg database with:

dpkg   set selections < selections.txt

With aptitude, you can hold a package using

aptitude hold package_name

and remove the hold with

aptitude unhold package_name

With dselect, you just have to enter the [S]elect screen, find the package you wish to hold in its

present state, and press the `=' key (or `H'). The changes will go live immediately after you exit

the [S]elect screen.