Change what is considered by apt-get as major amount of disk space

[Stephen P. Villano]

On 3/25/15 9:06 AM, Mateusz Konieczny wrote:
> No, I want to stop apt-get from asking dumb questions. Asking
> whatever it is OK to use 1/25000 of disk is a dumb question that
> should not be asked.
>
> At the same time it makes sense to ask for confirmation about
> installing 2GB of new programs, so -y is not a proper solution in
> that case (also, I mentioned "I know that I can use parameters
> (with aliases or apt.conf I can even make it permanent) to
> completely skip this check.").
>
> 2015-03-25 13:47 GMT+01:00 John Moser <john.r.moser at gmail.com
> <mailto:john.r.moser at gmail.com>>:
>
>     Why?
>
>     On multiple CentOS systems installed from the same CD using the same
>     parameters, yum will either list updates and ask Y/n or just
>     update/install stuff without confirmation; this irritates me, because
>     sometimes I see updates I want to run in a separate batch for risk
>     management, or I see that a kernel update is going to add 15MB to
>     /boot
>     which has 9MB free and I need to uninstall old kernels.
>
>     apt is going to ask me whether to continue or not anyway; if I don't
>     want to be asked, I'll use apt-get -y.  It may as well be informative
>     about it, listing all packages to be installed, removed, and
>     updated, as
>     well as the disk space impact.
>
>     What do you want apt to say instead?  "After this operation, some
>     voodoo
>     will happen that you don't need to worry about!  Continue?  [Y/n]"
>
>     On 03/25/2015 08:42 AM, Mateusz Konieczny wrote:
>     > apt-get will ask user about using significant amounts of disk space
>     >
>     > but it seems that what is considered as significant needs
>     adjustment,
>     > for me "major amount of disk space" is about 200MB but apt-get
>     will ask
>     > questions like "After this operation, 9805 kB of additional disk
>     space
>     > will be
>     > used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n]".
>     >
>     > I propose increasing this threshold to 50MB.
>     >
>     > I know that I can use parameters (with aliases or apt.conf I can
>     even
>     > make it
>     > permanent) to completely skip this check.
>     >
>     > I am not aware about any way that allows user to configure this
>     threshold
>     > (see
>     >
>     http://askubuntu.com/questions/596691/how-can-i-stop-apt-get-from-asking-about-using-minor-amounts-of-additional-disk
>     > ).
>     >
>     > Note: i was directed to this mailing list by
>     > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs
>     > ("Discussing features and existing policy") linked from
>     > https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/
>     >
>     >
>
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>
Why not split the difference? Add in a configuration file option to
suppress the prompt or better, a size before being asked, with a "magic
number" disabling the prompt completely.
It adds flexibility.
Frankly, I like "stupid questions", it adds an air gap between a
momentary gaffe or lack of notice of previous options and it prevents
newbies from harming themselves easily.
But, I can see the reason of the request.
And fully reserve the right to laugh at future support requests when
/boot gets overfilled, an undesired kernel is installed, etc.
Only because, I've shot myself in the foot a few times over the decades.  :)
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