[Bug 1988819] Re: When apt keeps back packages due to phased updates, it should say nothing

[Sergio Callegari]

As the original reporter, I am a bit unconvinced by this change of
perspective in how to fix the issue. I agree that being silent is
easier, but does not feel quite the right thing to do for me, at least
unless an option or something is added to see which upgrades are in
progress and phased back.

- It is untrue that from the user perspective these packages do not
exist yet, as suggested.

> from their perspective, the packages don't actually exist yet.

The packages do exist and can be quite visible to the user. If you `apt
install`, it is the most recent version of the packages that gets
installed.

- It is generally considered bad practice to open bugs without first
trying the most recent version of some troublesome software

Hiding the phased out packages takes away the opportunity to users who
are experiencing problems to try the most recent version before opening
a bug.

- When neighboring machines start running different versions of the
software and the user has the belief that they should be aligned because
they use the same distribution, if trouble occurs the user may be lead
to wrong conclusions (e.g. inculpate the hardware).

Again the user should be able to easily check if there is the
opportunity to try the last version of something when that something is
giving trouble.

- Finally, I am afraid that being non-transparent may lead users to
develop non standard hacks to see (and maybe immediately install) the
phased out packages. Incidentally, currently `aptitude upgrade` installs
the phased out packages.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1988819

Title:
  When apt keeps back packages due to phased updates, it should say
  nothing

Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  After phased updates have been introduced, it may happen that apt
  upgrade shows packages as upgradable but ends up not upgrading them.
  In this case the packages are indicated as being "kept back".

  Unfortunately, the feedback provided about this to the user is not
  very informative. The user sees the packages being kept back and
  thinks something is going wrong on the system.

  When packages are kept back because of phased updates, apt should say
  so e.g., it should say that the upgrade is delayed.

  Incidentally note that aptitude does not respect phased updates.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
  Package: apt 2.4.7
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-47.51-generic 5.15.46
  Uname: Linux 5.15.0-47-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.1
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
  CurrentDesktop: KDE
  Date: Tue Sep  6 10:05:14 2022
  EcryptfsInUse: Yes
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-02-16 (933 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to jammy on 2022-06-03 (94 days ago)

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