apticron exits with error when upgradeable packages are marked on hold

[Jörg Hohwieler]

apticron 1.1.58ubuntu1 on Ubuntu 16.04.1

To reproduce this issue you have to mark an upgradeable package on hold.
Example:
tomcat8 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.1 (installed)
tomcat8 8.0.32-1ubuntu1.2 (upgradeable)

- mark package on hold:
$ sudo apt-mark hold tomcat8

- run apticron
$ sudo apticron
E: Held packages were changed and -y was used without --allow-change-held-packages.

I could fix this issue by adding parameter "--allow-change-held-packages" - see attached patch.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "apticron_held_packages_fix.patch" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[ne (nemobobu)]

This is rather dangerous. If you mark a package on hold, you usually *don't* want it to be upgraded, and you usually have serious reasons to do so. If you now set allow-change-held-packages, it gets upgraded by force. Under normal circumstance, you'd remove the hold to get the package upgraded, or you stop automatic upgrades, or you live with the given warning until you can resolve the issue.