[SOLVED] downgrade packages to the repository version

rohshall · 10-09-2017, 07:47 PM

I downgraded my Ubuntu from 17.10 to 16.04 LTS version. After some hiccups, I have a working system. However, I have large number of packages that are newer than the repository version. Is there any way to bulk downgrade them to the repo version? I have tried adding repo preference:

PHP Code:



swadnerkar@swadnerkar:~ $ cat /etc/apt/preferences.d/priority-ubuntu  
Package: * 
Pin: release o=Ubuntu,a=xenial,n=xenial 
Pin-Priority: 990 
 
Package: * 
Pin: release o=Ubuntu,a=xenial-updates,n=xenial 
Pin-Priority: 990 
 
Package: * 
Pin: release o=Ubuntu,a=xenial-security,n=xenial 
Pin-Priority: 990 
 
Package: * 
Pin: release o=Ubuntu,a=xenial-backports,n=xenial 
Pin-Priority: 900

Still

PHP Code:



sudo apt-show-versions | fgrep newer

shows a large number of packages which are newer.

I have wasted quite a lot of time trying to downgrade each individual package using synaptic - force version method, and I am longing for something that offers bulk downgrade

ondoho · 10-10-2017, 12:21 PM

you could try to script it -
maybe:

Code:

apt-show-versions | fgrep newer | while read line ; do echo apt purge $line ; done

this is just a quick mockup, which is why i added an 'echo'. if you think it could/would work, edit accordingly.

rohshall · 10-10-2017, 11:13 PM

Thank you ondoho. I ended up doing something similar. Instead of apt, I used aptitude, because aptitude purge gives you alternatives like downgrade packages (among others).