Using smart

[Gustavo Niemeyer]

> > > The RMB-on-package GUI for 'Priority' only lets me specify
> > > preference by channel, NOT by package level.  And the generic
> > > "Edit Priorities" window *forces* me to TYPE in lots of info
> > > (rather than letting me select info by clicking).
> >
> > Try right-clicking on the package you want and selecting
> > "priority".
> 
> My first sentence (that you quoted) says that doing so lets me
> specify priority per channel.  What I am concerned about is that

Sorry, it wasn't obvious to my broken mind what "RMB-on-package GUI
for 'Priority'" meant.

> while I would want 'smart' to NOT upgrade to the package available
> today from a particular channel (because THIS package specifies
> out-of-date dependencies) -- I however want 'smart' to accept
> tomorrow's (anticipated) package from that same channel (which
> has hopefully been fixed to specify up-to-date dependencies).

Yes, it would.

> I am not familiar with exactly how to refer to the naming
> conventions used with packages.  I was trying to express that
> I want (tomorrow's hypothetical) package 'ImageMagick 6.2.3-4.2.1'
> to be unaffected by whatever I specify for (today's real) package
> 'ImageMagick 6.2.3-4.2'. I made up the term "package level" to
> differentiate between such two instances of the package identified
> as: 'ImageMagick 6.2.3'.

That's usually referred to as the "package version".

You can do what you described above by using the "Lock this version"
feature, accessible by right-clicking on the package. You can
lock both installed and uninstalled packages.

But what you really want is a system to prevent downgrades, something
that people is asking for quite frequently, and that will occasionlly
get implemented due to these constant requests.

-- 
Gustavo Niemeyer
http://niemeyer.net