How can I exclude an application from Mint Update?

[Lantesh]

Does anyone know if there is a way within Mint Update to mark a package so that it is excluded from being upgraded to a newer version? Currently I have make sure I uncheck it each time. The situation is this. I have removed enabled as a repository, and I want it to be, because often times they get the latest version of things first. However there is a game, Wormux, that I have on the computer for my nieces to play. removed shows a newer version, but it's a beta version, and I don't want it. Short of disabling removed in my sources.list file what can I do? Thanks in advance for help/advice.

Edit: For now I decided to disable removed so that Mint Update is satisfied that all packages are up to date. I can always enable it when I want to check and see what newer versions of stuff they have. So unless anyone has an answer to the original question consider this topic closed/solved. Thanks again.

[Husse]

If it's in mintUpdate it's in Synaptic
I know you can pin it there, but I'm not sure if that stops it in mintUpdate
I remember the subject has been discussed, but don't remember the conclusion or where

[deadguy]

Hi,

if you pin a program in apt(synaptic) it will exclude it from mint update as well.
I have done this in Celena with firefox because I wanted version2.0.0.13
but mint update wanted to "upgrade" me to version 2.0.0.6.
(I of course added the Minty Google search engine )

heres how:
add a file named preferences to /etc/apt.
in the terminal:

Code: Select all

sudo touch preferences /etc/apt

then:

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/preferences

then in this file add:

Code: Select all

Package: wormux
Pin: release a=here put the repo name that has the version of wormux you want to keep
Pin-priority: 700

Package: wormux
Pin: release a=here put the repo name that has the version of wormux you DON'T want
Pin-priority: 600

save the file, then reload your sources in synaptic.
mint update should no longer show it as an update!!(after a refresh of Mint update)


cheers,

Deadguy

[Lantesh]

Hey thanks for the answer deadguy! I appreciate it.

[deadguy]

glad to help

[Lantesh]

Update - Before I even tried deadguy's method I found that you can pin it right in the Synaptic GUI (click package and then lock version). It still shows up in Mint Update, but if I try to apply the update it does not install. So that method works. The only downside is that the update icon down on the task bar still shows there being updates available. So I suppose next is to try deadguy's method, but I'd imagine the result will be the same.

[deadguy]

hmm, I did not know you could do it from the Gui.
the way I show worked for me with firefox so I'd say give it a try anyway.
that of course is up to you

did you refresh mint update and reload your sources in synaptic???


Deadguy

edit: I found the "lock version" option in synaptic.
I'm not sure if that's the same as pinning or not though, as
pinning syntax I give sets priority of one repo over another.....

Husse may know more on this...

[deadguy]

hey,

I just found the post where I learned about this whole pinning thing
read cmost's reply for even more info: http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopi ... =18&t=9241

cheers,

Deadguy

[Lantesh]

You know I found another final solution. I simply uninstalled the game, lol. The kids were playing SuperTux this afternoon for hours, and I realized they don't really like Wormux anyway. However this information is still very useful, and I have it copied for when I truly need it. Here's the info from the other thread for anyone who doesn't want to dig for it. Thanks again for the help guys.
_______________

How to keep specific versions of packages installed (complex)

You may have occasion to modify something in a package and don't have time or don't want to port those changes to a new version of the program. Or, for instance, you may have just upgraded your Debian distribution to 3.0, but want to continue with the version of a certain package from Debian 2.2. You can "pin" the version you have installed so that it will not be upgraded.

Using this resource is simple. You just need to edit the file /etc/apt/preferences.

The format is simple:

Package: <package>
Pin: <pin definition>
Pin-Priority: <pin's priority>

Each entry must be separated from any other entries by a blank line. For example, to keep package sylpheed that I have modified to use "reply-to-list" at version 0.4.99, I add:

Package: sylpheed
Pin: version 0.4.99*

Note that I used an * (asterisk). This is a "wildcard"; it say that I want that this "pin" to be valid for all versions beginning with 0.4.99. This is because Debian versions its packages with a "Debian revision" and I don't want to avoid the installation of these revisions. So, for instance, versions 0.4.99-1 and 0.4.99-10 will be installed as soon as they are made available. Note that if you modified the package you won't want to do things this way.

The pin priority helps determine whether a package matching the "Packages:" and "Pin:" lines will be installed, with higher priorities making it more likely that a matching package will be installed. You can read apt_preferences(7) for a thorough discussion of priorities, but a few examples should give the basic idea. The following describes the effect of setting the priority field to different values in the sylpheed example above.

1001
Sylpheed version 0.4.99 will never be replaced by apt. If available, apt will install version 0.4.99 even if it would replace an installed package with a higher version. Only packages of priority greater than 1000 will ever downgrade an existing package.

1000
The effect is the same as priority 1001, except that apt will refuse to downgrade an installed version to 0.4.99

990
Version 0.4.99 will be replaced only by a higher version available from a release designated as preferred using the "APT::Default-Release" variable (see How to keep a mixed system, Section 3.8, above).

500
Any version higher than 0.4.99 of sylpheed which is available from any release will take preference over version 0.4.99, but 0.4.99 will still be preferred to a lower version.

100
Higher versions of sylpheed available from any release will take preference over version 0.4.99, as will any installed higher version of slypheed; so 0.4.99 will be installed only if no version is installed already. This is the priority of installed packages.

-1
Negative priorities are allowed as well, and prevent 0.4.99 from ever being installed.

A pin can be specified on a package's version, release or origin.

Pinning on a version, as we have seen, supports literal version numbers as well as wildcards to specify several versions at one time.

Option release depends on the Release file from an APT repository or from a CD. This option may be of no use at all if you're using package repositories that don't provide this file. You may see the contents of the Release files that you have on /var/lib/apt/lists/. The parameters for a release are: a (archive), c (components), v (version), o (origin) and l (label).

An example:

Package: *
Pin: release v=2.2*,a=stable,c=main,o=Debian,l=Debian
Pin-Priority: 1001

In this example, we chose version 2.2* of Debian (which can be 2.2r2, 2.2r3 -- this accommodates "point releases" that typically include security fixes and other very important updates), the stable repository, section main (as opposed to contrib or non-free) and origin and label Debian. Origin (o=) defines who produced that Release file, the label (l=) defines the name of the distribution: Debian for Debian itself and Progeny for Progeny, for example. A sample Release file:

$ cat /var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.debian.org.br_debian_dists_potato_main_binary-i386_Release
Archive: stable
Version: 2.2r3
Component: main
Origin: Debian
Label: Debian
Architecture: i386