tags 145575 + patch thanks Please apply this patch against apt. This correctly documents how APT::Default-Release works in combination with /etc/apt/preferences. This patch is for the unstable apt version 0.5.28.6. I think this should still go to testing if possible.
Ingo
diff -Ndurp apt-0.6.36.orig/doc/apt-get.8.xml apt-0.6.36/doc/apt-get.8.xml
--- apt-0.6.36.orig/doc/apt-get.8.xml 2005-05-06 08:44:49.000000000 +0200
+++ apt-0.6.36/doc/apt-get.8.xml 2005-05-16 16:52:17.712579463 +0200
@@ -359,8 +359,10 @@
<term><option>--target-release</option></term>
<term><option>--default-release</option></term>
<listitem><para>This option controls the default input to the policy
engine, it creates
- a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string. The
- preferences file may further override this setting. In short, this option
+ a default pin at priority 990 using the specified release string.
+ This overrides the general settings in
<filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename>.
+ Sepcifically pinned packages are not affected by the value
+ of this option. In short, this option
lets you have simple control over which distribution packages will be
retrieved from. Some common examples might be
<option>-t '2.1*'</option> or <option>-t unstable</option>.
diff -Ndurp apt-0.6.36.orig/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml
apt-0.6.36/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml
--- apt-0.6.36.orig/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml 2005-05-06 08:44:42.000000000
+0200
+++ apt-0.6.36/doc/apt_preferences.5.xml 2005-05-16 16:53:47.748960678
+0200
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ belongs. It is possible to single out a
which receives a higher priority than other distributions do by default.
The target release can be set on the <command>apt-get</command> command
line or in the APT configuration file <filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename>.
+Note that this has precedence over any general priority you set in the
+<filename>/etc/apt/preferences</filename> file described later, but not
+over specifically pinned packages.
For example,
<programlisting>
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