Apt-pinning: mixing packages from different repositories in Debian

David Hausheer

In order to mix the stable distribution with a few packages from testing, add to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://debian.csg.uzh.ch/debian stable main contrib non-free deb http://debian.csg.uzh.ch/debian testing main contrib non-free

To make the stable distribution the default, give testing a lower priority. Add to /etc/apt/preferences:

Package: * Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 200

Install a package from testing:

apt-get -t testing install [package]

To install a particular package from another distribution. Add to /etc/apt/preferences:

Package: [package] Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 600

Install the package:

apt-get install [package]

To install a particular package in a specific version. Add to /etc/apt/preferences:

Package: [package] Pin: version 0.8.6-svn20061012.debian-5etch1 Pin-Priority: 1001

Install the package:

apt-get install [package]