Pinning sources in Debian

Proceed with Caution

© Lead Image © Viktoriya Sukhanova, 123RF.com

© Lead Image © Viktoriya Sukhanova, 123RF.com

Article from Issue 200/2017
Author(s):

Debian discourages the use of pinning to set preferences for package repositories, because the practice can have disastrous results. We take a closer look.

Pinning is the black art of Debian and its derivative distributions. Using pinning, you can set your preferences for which package repository to use, either for all installations or upgrades, or for a specific set of packages. Officially, however, Debian discourages pinning, because it can prevent package upgrades or even corrupt an entire system if used carelessly.

Debian, as you may know, uses three main repositories [1]. These are Stable, Testing, and Unstable, also known by their release names, which are currently Jessie, Stretch, and Sid – all characters from the Toy Story movies. A new package enters Debian in Unstable, and, when it meets certain requirements, moves to Testing. When a general release is made, the package moves to Stable. Between releases, StableUpdates and Backports are used to help keep Stable up to date with borrowings from Testing. Debian derivatives like Ubuntu organize repositories by other criteria but are still likely to have some repositories that are more stable or otherwise preferred.

However, both Debian's and Debian derivatives' main repositories are divided into sections based on licensing. The main section contains free-licensed packages, including core system components. By contrast, contrib contains free-licensed packages that depend on proprietary applications, while non-free contains proprietary packages. Debian installs with only main enabled, although contrib and non-free can be enabled by editing /etc/apt/sources.list and then running apt-get update.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Mixing Debian Repositories

    A little caution can save you hours of frustrating work (plus, options for mixing gone awry).

  • Mixing Debian Repositories

    A little caution can save you hours of frustrating work (plus, options for mixing gone awry).

  • Command Line: apt-cache

    We take a look at apt-cache, an essential utility for command line-based package management.

  • Evolutionary Tale

    Over the past 30 years, the apt family has played an important role in dependency resolution for Debian distros.

  • Smart Package Manager

    The package manager is one of the central components on any Linux system. If you have a system with unreliable package management – such as Suse Linux 10.1 – you may want to consider the Smart alternative.

comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News