Datasheet

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Chapter 4 ✦ Software Management
You can also override version preferences on the apt-get command line like this:
# apt-get install kword=1:1.3.4-1
And once again, this works for package removals too.
apt pinning is a very powerful tool that gives you a lot of control over the shape
of your system, but it can be dangerous, too. The consensus among savvy Debian
users is that it should be used very sparingly and certainly not for important sys-
tem libraries and other core packages. If you absolutely must have a newer version
of one of those and you just can’t upgrade your entire system, you should try
rebuilding the packages instead.
Summary
I covered a lot of material in this chapter, running the gamut from packaging con-
cepts to using unofficial Debian package repositories. Having read this chapter, you
should be perfectly capable of handling software management on your Debian
installation, including such tasks as finding, examining, installing, removing, purg-
ing, configuring, and upgrading packages. You should also be familiar with the con-
cept of pinning.
✦✦✦
Caution
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