[packagekit] Holding packages

[Daniel Nicoletti]

> On 26 May 2011 14:01, Daniel Nicoletti <dantti85-pk at yahoo.com.br>  wrote:
> > * Some users find that very usefull as sometimes you know
> >  the newer package is broken.
> 
> Yes, there is an open Fedora bug about this  kind of functionality too.
> 
> > My proposal to the API is a new method  HoldPackages(as pkg_ids, bool hold)
> > the latter allows the package to be  UNHOLD.
> > Then when we do GetUpdates packages with INFO_HOLD will be  emited
> > so that the user knows that to update it he first has to UNHOLD  it.
> 
> This seems quite underspecified. Should packages that are held  be
> allowed to be removed or installed? Should hal;0.3;i386;fedora be  held
> if hal;0.4;i686;fedora is updated? What  about
> hal;0.3;i386;fedora-unstable-tests-updates

When you do "aptitude hold firefox" you freeze the current version of it,
meaning that updates shouldn't replace the current version, but yes,
you can remove it and it's not a lock for removal just for the version.

I don't get very much the 'hal' idea but it's pretty much all about the 
version in debian, any newer or older version should be denied if
the package is put on hold.


The API might seem to simplistic but the idea is quite simple too,
afaik no other type of locking is supported by debian so a more complex
example just won't fit in debian. But if some other backend can
do more complex things we can try to differentiate what one backend can
that the other doesnt.

> > Is that usefull  for any other backend?
> > Is the API proposal reasonable?
> 
> I think we  need concrete use cases (for
> http://packagekit.org/pk-profiles.html ;-) and a more  specified
> proposal first. For instance, should the user be able to lock  down
> what packages can be installed or removed, and that kind of thing.  I
> don't think making it map 1:1 to the debian dpgk hold system is
> terribly  useful on it's  own.


For susan she might want to install new updates for her favourite apps
but when her saw newer Firefox she gaves up on all her updates since
after last update all her bookmarks were lost, she prefer to wait her
boyfriend come home and do some backup.

For Bevan this is just yet another cool feature that allow him to
not update certain packages as he is starting to know what he is doing.

Graham will probably want to hold a package because his soon told so
otherwise his pc might break or get unstable...

I'm surely not the use cases man, maybe I should see if there is any
good use case in KPackageKit bug reports :P

Daniel.