update-manager vs apt-get

[Michael Vogt]

On Mon, Jul 24, 2006 at 06:02:05PM +0100, martin f krafft wrote:
> also sprach Matt Zimmerman <mdz at ubuntu.com> [2006.07.24.1610 +0100]:
> > Like most any pre-planned Ubuntu feature, it was discussed, specified and
> > developed openly:
> > 
> > https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/release-upgrades
> 
> I appreciate that you alleviated the need for me to learn how to
> navigate Launchpad.
[..]
> The reason I am asking is quite simple that I acknowledge that
> dist-upgrade cannot be the way to go, and I would like for that to
> be improved as well, but I'd rather fix dist-upgrade and the
> packages, not rely on preparation and cleanup hooks.
[..]

The main difference is about policy. A dist-upgrade done with apt-get,
aptitude, synaptic will always upgrade the package based on your
current installed set and thats it (it has no policy beyond the
package relationships). In contrast, the dist-upgrader will ensure
that one of {ubuntu,kubuntu,edubuntu,xubuntu}-desktop is installed
(and if not guess which one you need based on your installed packages)
and will do things automatically that are usually described in the
ReleaseNotes.

Consider the dist-upgrader a high-level policy enforcement
application. There is nothing wrong with a normal dist-upgrade, it is
just hard to express some things with package releationships. 


Cheers,
 Michael
-- 
Linux is not The Answer. Yes is the answer. Linux is The Question. - Neo