On Thu 20 Jul 2017 at 21:21:08 (+1000), Erik Christiansen wrote: > On 20.07.17 03:27, Felix Miata wrote: > > David Wright composed on 2017-07-19 23:33 (UTC-0500): > > > > > On Wed 19 Jul 2017 at 14:57:50 (-0400), Felix Miata wrote: > > > > >> Did you miss that in Stretch apt is preferred to apt-get? > > > > > I did. Where does it say that? > > > > It was a long time ago that I first encountered it, and don't remember > > where it > > was. I have to think searching 'apt-get vs. apt stretch' will get you hits > > like > > what I've run across. > > Ah, yes, "I had a dream ... that my preference was ordained from upon > high." That's the source of all sorts of bunkum.
Agreed. I was beginning to despair of this list while reading through this thread. But we seem to live in times when evidence matters less and less, and assertion more and more. Sorry about the politics. Anyway, AFAICT according to the Release Notes, apt-get is preferred over aptitude for the upgrade from jessie to stretch (where this is relevant); according to the Installation Manual, apt is the tool of choice, though no preference is expressed over apt-get which is not mentioned. There is one wrinkle here, however, and it might easily be overlooked: apt now¹ removes packages from the cache after their successful installation, whereas apt-get's behaviour is unchanged. This could explain some people's complaints of losing debs over recent months. I almost missed this because grepping on "clean" doesn't catch it as it's not a clean, only a selective removal. > I've used apt-get for decades, across ubuntu and debian, and it has > always worked for me. It is amusing to observe pedants furiously > peddling their own preference, not least when some vague "authority" is > claimed. Even if it was a bunch of drunk virgins, naked under moonlight > (whether devs or not), their preference is only their preference. > > The rest of us use what we choose, and it is foolish to attempt to > impose one's will on others. (Not least when one has no idea why. ;-) ¹closing a 15-year-old "bug". man apt warns of the possibility of changes between versions, unlike apt-get which is designed to be more stable and hence scriptable. Cheers, David.
