Re: How do I blacklist a package?

[Rogério Brito]

Hi, Stefan.

On 12/09/2020 17.30, Stefan Monnier wrote:
APT keeps wanting to install `sse2-support` on my dear Thinkpad X30, but
that machine's CPU does not support SSE2, so the package's installation
always fails.
How can I tell APT that it shouldn't *try* to install `sse2-support`?

I tried to put a "hold" on the package with

     echo "sse2-support" | dpkg --set-selections

but it apparently only works to pin an *installed* package to it current
version, whereas I'd need it to "hold" the "uninstalled" status.

Any hint?

Here is a very, very wild guess: does pinning (via /etc/apt/preferences) 
the package to a negative priority only work when the package is already 
installed?

I would say that you could create a dummy version (say, with an epoch) 
of it, but I just saw that the presence of the package indicates that 
your system *supports* SSE2, which is not the intended outcome... :-(


Regards,

Rogério Brito.