Aptdaemon

Downgrade packages from CLI?

Asked by Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff

I'm trying to downgrade some packages from a BASH script (I'm rewriting lp:ppa-purge using aptdaemon).
Aptdcon doesn't support downgrading, so I tried using dbus-send, but I can't figure out how to format the request. I've tried doing some basic calls like updating cache, but every combination I tried returned an error. I've tried running update-manager and capturing the message with dbus-monitor, but I haven't captured any any UpdateCache calls in neither session nor system bus. An example command that downgrades several packages would be ideal, but how do I make at least basic calls with dbus-send?

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Sebastian Heinlein
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Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) said : 		#1

For reference: http://packages.python.org/aptdaemon/dbus.html#org-debian-apt-the-aptdaemon-interface

You can use the CommitPackages method to downgrade packages. Please consider that downgrades are not supported by Debian or Ubuntu. The install scripts only can convert to a later version.

aptdcon has got an option --downgrade that allows you to downgrade the system. There isn't any need to use dbus-send (which would not work very well at all)

aptdcon --downgrade="xterm=246-1 abook=34-1"

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Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel) said : 		#2

Thanks Sebastian Heinlein, that solved my question.

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Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel) said : 		#3

I must have seen an outdated version of aptdcon manpage then. Thanks a lot!

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Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel) said : 		#4

For some totally mysterious reason aptdcon just prints usage when I run this:
$ aptdcon --downgrade="unity=4.22.0-0ubuntu3"
I've tried any combination I cound invent, escape everything that's escapable, and it still prints usage. Any ideas?

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Best Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) said : 		#5

This was a bug. I just fixed it. It will be uploaded to precise soon.

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Sebastian Heinlein (glatzor) said : 		#6

You can just use apt-get install xterm=246 to downgrade packages in oneiric

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Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel) said : 		#7

Thanks Sebastian Heinlein, that solved my question.