can i add debian backports on repos?

[niubboxp]

as the topic say, can i add it? if yes, when a new version of installed package are in backports will be installed when apt dist-upgrade?

[xenopeek]

Yes you can safely add Debian backports to LMDE 2. Only packages you explicitly install from backports will be upgraded from there. If you haven't explicitly installed a package from backports the package will be installed or upgraded from the default repositories and never from backports.

Instructions for adding Debian backports here: https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/. Use the instructions for "Jessie", not "Wheezy". LMDE 2 is based on Jessie.

[Penn]

Yes you can safely add Debian backports to LMDE 2. Only packages you explicitly install from backports will be upgraded from there. If you haven't explicitly installed a package from backports the package will be installed or upgraded from the default repositories and never from backports.

Instructions for adding Debian backports here: https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/. Use the instructions for "Jessie", not "Wheezy". LMDE 2 is based on Jessie.

I had to revert Kodi to start to fix some add-on issues so I figured this would be a good time to try this.

The Debian main has 14.2 and backports has 16.1. I followed those directions and everything is fine there. In fact of the four Kodi versions I have now seen, this is the only one where mouse movements don't lag.

But then I saw my available updates in update manager. It is telling me to update to 14.2 from 16.1.

If this helps

Code: Select all

apt policy kodi
kodi:
  Installed: 16.1+dfsg1-2~bpo8+1
  Candidate: 5:14.2+repack-dmo1b2
  Version table:
     5:14.2+repack-dmo1b2 0
        500 http://www.deb-multimedia.org/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
 *** 16.1+dfsg1-2~bpo8+1 0
        100 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[xenopeek]

Your apt policy output shows 16.1 is installed from backports. If there is a question in above about Update Manager, can you share a screenshot of that.

[Penn]

Sure I'll give you a screenshot but what I'm saying is it wants me to "update" from the current 16.1 to the "new" 14.2. Is this normal for backports? Backports shows as an additional repo in software sources.

edit - By the way, when did Update Manager stop using my icons in favor of its own boring flat ones? That is also one of the things I don't like about xed.

[xenopeek]

I think this is a problem for the backports packagers. As in, "5:14.2+repack-dmo1b2" is a higher version than "16.1+dfsg1-2~bpo8+1" because of the leading "5:"? And as such it is seen as an upgrade, while it's actually a downgrade. The backports packagers should use the same version numbering method for this package. apt update is saying the same thing.

[Penn]

So 5: registers as a higher number than 16. . I can see that now.

I'll just leave it on ignoring updates for that package. With Kodi it isn't a big deal because security updates (which don't happen often) and new versions are announced on the scrolling banner on the bottom. I don't need latest all the time and I was more curious about this one than feeling I "need" it. Especially for a program I only use about once every other month.

Thanks.