[Nottingham] Ubuntu apt-get issue

[Mark O'Shea]

On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 03:28:07PM +0100, Sergiusz Pawlowicz wrote:
> > Just as Mandriva's "urpmi" is a 'wrapper' to the underlying "rpm"
> > command, is not the same for Synaptic utilising the apt-get
> > commands/libs to get the job done?
> >
You are wrong, the urpmi is to rpm as the apt system is (kind of) to dpkg.

> Martin, again: synaptic is not a wrapper to apt-get.
> 
> They are working _independently_, you can
You are wrong (with the emphasis on independent anyway).  Synaptic and
apt-get are both interfaces to the apt system, it's the apt libraries
and associated infrastructure that does the work.  They use the same
config because it's the libraries that decide where to look for that.

It looks like the original problem (remember that?) was due to an
apt.conf existing and overiding what was in the files in
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/.  This is expected behaviour and it appears that
synaptic only updates the files in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d (which is also as
expected).  Something else had put the other file there and it was
upsetting the assumptions that the developers of synaptic have made
(when altering configuration, not reading it for the purposes of
updating the package lists).

The 'error' is likely not a synaptic one, but it's upsetting the way
ubuntu is fitting together so should be of interest to the ubuntu
synaptic maintainers (even if it's just to identify what has upset the
balance and handball the bug report to them).

You are of course both correct as well on certain levels, but both
slightly missing the point.

-- 
Mark