Upgrade problem

[Colin Watson]

On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 05:36:05PM -0400, Robert Heller wrote:
> At Sun, 19 May 2019 18:19:49 +0200 Ralf Mardorf <silver.bullet at zoho.com> wrote:
> > apt-get dist-upgrade should work perfectly, too. However, the official
> > Ubuntu tool nowadays is apt.
> > 
> >   https://askubuntu.com/questions/770135/apt-full-upgrade-versus-apt-get-dist-upgrade
> > 
> > The apt replacements for several apt-get and dpkg commands are more
> > user-friendly. The helper gdebi could be replaced by apt install, to
> 
> Arg "user-friendly"... There are different meanings for "user-friendly".  *I* 
> don't want a pointy-clicky "user friendly" interface -- I do almost ALL of the 
> updates of the various Ubuntu/Debian boxen from the command line, often using 
> a *plain* xterm over a ssh connection.  I really don't need/want an 
> application to demand the use of GUI to do things like display progesss meters 
> or other "friendly* eye candy.

This comment isn't relevant here: apt(8) isn't a GUI tool.

> > It's not recommended to use apt for scripts, but actually I never
> > experienced an issue:
> > 
> >   [weremouse at moonstudio ~]$ apt list -a linux-lowlatency | grep installed
> > 
> >   WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.
> 
> This is suggestive (and tells *me* I really want to avoid apt).

It means that one should be careful when writing scripts that use apt(8)
since the exact details of some of its subcommands/options may change
(although I wouldn't over-read this - its commonly-used facilities have
been pretty stable in practice since it was introduced).

It doesn't mean that it's somehow going to metamorphose into a GUI tool.
apt(8) is intended for use by people operating their systems at the
command line, and is suitable for that purpose.

-- 
Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson at ubuntu.com]