Re: Freeze package

[Byron Boulton <daytonb at zoho dot com>]

On 2/18/2016 10:13 AM, Byron Boulton wrote:
> On 2/18/2016 10:09 AM, Marco Atzeri wrote:
> > On 18/02/2016 15:34, Byron Boulton wrote:
> > > Is there a way to freeze a cygwin package to prevent upgrade?
> > >
> > > Byron
> >
> > only manually selecting skip for that specifically package.
> >
> > Why ?
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
> > FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
> > Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
> > Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
> There is a very annoying small bug in the hamster package from
> cygwin-ports. It's a very simple fix in the python code, but I was
> thinking I would freeze the package to keep from overwriting it. I've
> had bad luck with installing from source on my linux machines, so I
> don't have high hopes for installing it from source on cygwin. I realize
> it's a bad idea to manually edit files that are under the control of the
> package manager. Freezing the package is just a workaround.
>
> Byron
>
>
> --
> Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
> FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
> Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
> Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
On 2/18/2016 10:34 AM, Achim Gratz wrote:
> Byron Boulton <daytonb <at> zoho.com> writes:
> > Is there a way to freeze a cygwin package to prevent upgrade?
>
> This is a "if you have to ask, you shouldn't be doing it" type of
> question. Keeping that in mind, you can edit /etc/setup/installed.db
> and give any package a high enough version number so that setup
> thinks there's a more recent version installed than what is available
> in the repo. You have to remember that yourself or you'll start
> wondering a few months down the road why things break in mysterious
> ways, though.
>
> But you should really report the problem to the maintainer so that
> it can be solved at its root, rather than trying to point-fix a
> local installation.
>
>
> Regards, Achim.

Thanks for your info on the installed.db.

As I replied to another mailing list member, I recognize the problems of 
editing files under the package manager's control. If installing from 
source weren't buggy (that I *should* report upstream) I would do that 
rather than edit the files installed by cygwin.

The bug is fixed upstream, but only in a release candidate. It would be 
nice if cygwin had a real way to freeze a package. For example, when you 
freeze a package in Arch Linux, everytime you update your packages it 
prints a warning listing packages you have frozen. This way, each time 
you run an update you see the warning and can consider again if you need 
to have the packages frozen, or if something starts acting funny you can 
ask yourself, "I wonder if the problem is caused by these packages I 
have frozen".

Byron


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple