Re: Discussion about why GNU/Linux system upgrades cause old programs to break

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  > 'apt upgrade' does not also automatically run 'apt autoremove'.  Most
  > admins, however, instinctively do.

  > Including me.

You've given a clear description of how `apt' dependencies
sometimes cause deletion of older versions of libraries, which
user programs sometimes need.

I understand the logic behind this, but it regularly leads to problems
for people using their own, non-system-managed programs.  And unless
you're a sysadmin of the computer in question, you can't fix it when
it happens.

We should try to find some sort of solution.

Here is one approach I thought of.

When users link a program, and it links in a managed dynamic library
that might later get replaced by a newer version, that could add the
library to a system-wide list of "managed dynamic libraries that users
use in their own programs".  This list would tell `apt autoremove' not
to delete those libraries.

It could record the users logins, too, and the program being linked,
if the user does not say don't record it.

When `apt autoremove' would remove library GTK2, but it is in that
list so it doesn't remove that, it could remind the sysadmin to ask
whether that user whether perse wants GTK2 to stay around.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)