what do you want to see in future apt versions ?

[rikona]

On Thu, 04 Jun 2020 10:27:32 -0400
Paul Smith <paul at mad-scientist.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 2020-06-04 at 15:55 +0200, Liam Proven wrote:
> > On Thu, 4 Jun 2020 at 15:39, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com>
> > wrote:  
> > > I am only one of many, who have found the commands confusing,
> > > which is why the questions about whether those two (dist-upgrade
> > > and full-upgrade) will institute a version upgrade, keep
> > > occurring on this list.  
> > 
> > Neither. Ever. You cannot upgrade Ubuntu versions with any form of
> > the `apt-get` or `apt` command, ever, under any circumstances. The
> > End.  
> 
> Agreed.  Maybe it helps to remember this:
> 
> What does it mean to upgrade to a new Ubuntu version?  You have to
> rewrite your APT configuration (/etc/apt/sources*) to point to a new,
> different set of upstream sources: each Ubuntu release uses completely
> different URLs for their DEB package lines.

Maybe we can use the language you use to explain it. :-)

update current version [does just that]

update to new version  [does that instead]  or
update to new distribution

this brings in the idea of 'version' instead of calling everything
distribution. "Full" is also ambiguous - I want everything updated in
my current version, so do a full upgrade.

The current word usage is confusing, and, yes, everyone can learn to
use confusing commands, but why not make them less confusing. This
comes up often on the list - that's a good clue that it is not clear.

Better wording would help...

> APT commands like apt and apt-get never to through and rewrite your
> source lists.  You need a different command for that.
> 
> So it should be clear that there is no situation where running apt or
> apt-get will ever switch to a new Ubuntu version.
> 
> 
> In a way the fact that people are confused about this is a testament
> to the great work Ubuntu has done to make updates and upgrades easy
> and painless.
> 
>