On Fri, Aug 19, 2005 at 05:27:39PM +0200, Holly Bostick wrote: > Mark Knecht schreef: > > Hi, > > I wonder what the explanation in the emerge man page about the > > --update option really means. What is meant by, and how does emerge > > pick, "the best version available"? > > > > - Mark > > > <snip> > So, 'best' is a matter of judgement, and basically Gentoo sorts packages > into categories so that you can have some context to make the judgement > about what is best *for you*. If stable is best for you, then Portage > will choose the stable packages (because you told it to). If unstable is > best for you, then Portage will choose the unstable packages (because > you told it to). If stable is generally best, but in some specific > cases, unstable is best for you, then Portage will choose the stable > packages except where you told it that unstable is OK. > > That's how it's done, mostly.
One other thing is that --update is often contrasted against the now deprecated --upgradeonly option from yonder times. If, say, you updated a package yesterday, and someone found a critical bug in it this morning. The devs decide to hard-mask the ebuild until the problem is solved. emerge --update world will downgrade that packages to the latest one not hard-masked and fits in your profile, while emerge --upgradeonly world will skip that downgrade. I suppose this might have been used before packages.keywords were introduced and allowed people who installed certain programs using KEYWORDS="~arch" emerge ... to not constantly worry about the up-and-down jumpiness of updates. Best, W -- "`You ARE Zaphod Beeblebrox?' `Yeah,' said Zaphod, `but don't shout it out or they'll all want one.' `THE Zaphod Beeblebrox?' `No, just A Zaphod Bebblebrox, didn't you hear I come in six packs?' `But sir,' it squealed, `I just heard on the sub-ether radio report. It said you were dead...' `Yeah, that's right, I just haven't stopped moving yet.'" - Zaphod and the Guide's receptionist. Sortir en Pantoufles: up 7 days, 19:07 -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
