[arch-general] can you only test certain packages?

[Jeroen Op 't Eynde]

On Thu, 20 May 2010 23:26:22 +0200, Jim Pryor  
<lists+arch-general at jimpryor.net> wrote:

> On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 01:29:41PM -0400, Caleb Cushing wrote:
>> I'm trying to help with the testing of perl 5.12 but I'd rather not
>> test every package out there. Is it possible to block certain packages
>> from being updated from testing? or only allow certain ones? maybe
>> with a regex? obviously I don't wish to ban them globally. if they
>> make it into a non testing repo I'm fine with it.
>
> (This should be a sticky in the forum.)
>
> There are exactly two safe options with respect to testing.
>
> 1. Update everything from testing. Actually this is a bit overkill. If
> you just want to update a package Z, it'd be enough to update Z from
> testing, and also any of its dependencies Y that are also in testing,
> and also anything in testing that depends on either Z or any of the Ys.
>
> 2. The other safe option is to install *none* of the binary updates from
> testing. Instead, grab the new PKGBUILD for Z from /var/abs/testing/,
> and makepkg it yourself, against the other packages and libraries you've
> already got installed.

There is a number 3.

3. Add [testing] and do a pacman -Sy package-you-like. It will install the  
latest package from testing and its dependencies. Remove [testing] again  
and you can go on using your non-testing system. I don't know if it is  
fail-proof but it worked for me with xorg-server (to 1.8). When I'm doing  
a pacman -Syu it just says that the packages installed are newer and  
therefore doesn't update these certain packages.

-- 
Jeroen Op 't Eynde - jeroen at xprsyrslf.be - http://xprsyrslf.be

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