APT 2.2 package manager release

A release of the APT 2.2 (Advanced Package Tool) package management toolkit has been prepared, which incorporates the changes accumulated in the experimental 2.1 branch. In addition to Debian and its derivative distributions, APT is also used in some distributions based on the rpm package manager, such as PCLinuxOS and ALT Linux. The new release will soon be integrated into the Debian Unstable branch and into the Ubuntu package base (Ubuntu 20.10 used the experimental 2.1 branch).

Changes include:

• Added support for incremental updates, which Ubuntu already uses to limit the distribution and control the deployment of updates. For example, phased updates allow you to distribute updates to a new stable release initially to a small percentage of users and after some time, in the absence of regressions, distribute updates to all other users.
• Additional templates for selecting packages based on dependencies have been implemented, such as “?depends” and “?conflicts”.
• Added support for the “Protected” field, which replaced the “Important” field and defines packages that are unacceptable for removal and are necessary for the system to boot correctly.
• The “-error-on=any” option has been added to the “update” command, which, when set, will display an error on any failure.
• The rred method for applying and retrieving patches is now available as a separate program for processing pdf files.
• The handler code for removing old kernel versions (autoremoval) has been rewritten from shell to C++ and can now be called while apt is running, and not only when installing kernel packages. The change will ensure that the kernel that is currently in use is preserved, and not the kernel that is active during the installation of a package with a new kernel. To avoid overfilling the /boot partition, three cores are saved instead of four.
• To index cache elements, the XXH3 hashing algorithm is used instead of Adler32 or RC32c. Increased hash table size.
• The apt-key utility is scheduled for removal in the second quarter of 2022.

Source: opennet.ru