[Discuss] Ubuntu 22.04 apt-get problem

Thu Mar 30 16:52:50 PDT 2023

Hi,

More in-line below, but before that, are there any files in /etc/apt/preferences.d/?

On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 02:07:08PM -0700, bctill wrote:
> Hi Znoteer --
> 
[snip]
> 
> Several people have suggested that I should dump Ubuntu and start over with
> Debian, and I'm starting to think that this is very good advice.  Just look

Which one you use is your choice. I wouldn't switch simply because of this, though. You could very well encounter similar problems using Debian. I'm very happy with Debian, but it isn't perfect.

> at all the "unattended upgrades" in the last month alone!  These just
> happened in the background, without asking my permission.  Without even

unattended-upgrades exists in Debian, too. You can disable it if you like, or configure it in various ways. I use it myself, but if you don't like it, I would recommend letting it at least install security updates, unless you're plan on tracking that diligently yourself. And if you do decide to track security updates manually, I'd highly recommend that you subscribe to the "debian security annouce" mailing list. As soon as a fix is availble for an insecure package, an email is sent to that list.

See (at least on a Debian system),

/usr/share/doc/unattended-upgrades/README.md.gz 
/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades
$ man apt.conf
$ man unattended-upgrades

https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/

[snip]
> 
> Having said that, I have spent about an hour on the debian site, and I still
> have no idea what files to download.  If I understand what I've been
> reading, I can't download anything unless I first download and install a bit
> torrent client.  Of course, there are dozens of those, and I have no idea
> how to choose one...

Debian prefers you use torrent or jigdo because it reduces the bandwidth on their servers. But, you don't have to use either. If you prefer wget, or curl, or a web browser, you can do that.

If you have a good Internet connection, you can download an network install CD which only has enough on it to create minimal system, then adds the rest, and updates the minimal system as needed, over your Internet connection.

If you don't have a good connection, you can download a larger installation image which includes more software to choose from right off the image, without need for a good connection.

A minimal install (netinst) image for a 64-bit Intel/AMD CPU is here: https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-11.6.0-amd64-netinst.iso

If you're using 32-bit cpu, or arm or something, see this page: https://www.debian.org./CD/http-ftp/