Ubuntu – How to upgrade a particular package dependencies only

aptdependenciesdpkgpackage-management

Let's say I have a package A which has Depends: B (>= 1.0.0) in its control file.

The B was installed as an A dependency some time ago with 1.0.0 version.

Now B was updated in the repository to the 1.0.42 version and I'd like to upgrade it.

What I don't like to do: apt-get install B since it will mark B as "manually installed" (not sure how to name it correctly) package and it won't be removed with autoremove if I decide to stop using A ever.

So is there an analogue of apt-get upgrade that only upgrades a particular package and its dependencies (probably recursive, it doesn't matter in my case since B doesn't depend on anything else) only?

PS: I'm asking about currently available LTS versions. So 10.04 and 12.04

Best Answer

Well, if there won't be another answer - here is one way of doing that:

Just install it with apt-get install B explicitly, then mark it as auto installed using apt-mark markauto B

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Ubuntu – Libssl Dependencies

Go to software centre and search for mintupdate and remove it. I had to do this twice as the first time failed.

I then installed it again and the problem was fixed.

Ubuntu – Installing Specific Versions When Repo Has Newer

You have to select the particular versions to install, and install them all at the same time that you install the meta-package.

sudo apt-get install meta-package package1=2 package2=2 package3=2

Like int_ua's answer says, you can find out reverse dependencies with this:

apt-cache rdepends package

If you want to know more information about any of those packages (available versions, dependencies, and lots more), use this:

apt-cache show package

After you finish installing them, and want to keep them at those versions while doing system upgrades, you will need to use apt-pinning as suggested by belacqua.

APT pinning

The APT pinning feature allows administrators to force APT to choose particular versions of packages which may be available in different versions from different repositories. This allows administrators to ensure that packages are not upgraded to versions which may conflict with other packages on the system, or that have not been sufficiently tested for unwelcome changes. In order to do this, the pins in APT's preferences file (/etc/apt/preferences) must be modified.

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Libssl Dependencies

Ubuntu – Installing Specific Versions When Repo Has Newer

APT pinning

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