ubuntu patch uses unsupported search pattern, redundant

[Daniel Hartwig]

Ubuntu changes to aptitude include the file 05aptitude containing this configuration item:

aptitude::Keep-Unused-Pattern "^linux-image.*$ | ^linux-restricted-modules.*$ | ^linux-ubuntu-modules.*$";

First, the search terms used are implicit and this is unsupported for non-interactive use. From the aptitude user's manual section titled “Search patterns”:

Warning
The behavior of aptitude when given a search pattern without a leading “?” (or “~”) is provided as a convenience for interactive use and will change in future releases; scripts that invoke aptitude should explicitly name the search strategy they want to use. That is, scripts should search for “?name(coq)” rather than “coq”).

Second, these terms already appear in the default value of APT::NeverAutoRemove from 01autoremove (package apt). The aptitude setting is used in a check which already considers the APT setting, making the aptitude configuration redundant.

The setting should be removed from 05aptitude.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package aptitude - 0.6.8.2-1ubuntu2

---------------
aptitude (0.6.8.2-1ubuntu2) saucy; urgency=low

  * Remove debian/05aptitude:
    - sudo setting is redundant with user-setup (LP: #1033838)
    - Keep-Unused-Pattern setting is redundant with apts NeverAutoRemove,
      which conflicts with an apt update to permit autoremoval of old kernel
      images (LP: #923876, #1053776)
    - Thanks to Daniel Hartwig for the patch.
    - Remove 05aptitude from debian/aptitude.install
 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:05:47 -0700