Debian pinning instructions for Chromium

[smurphos]

@clefebvre . You said test test test. I mentioned on the forum that I noticed a unexpected outcome for the debian apt pinning. I've just fresh installed the beta, added the repos and rules and retested to double check it wasn't something weird I'd already done and got the same result.

The disconcerting result is a whole bunch of packages come up as downgrade candidates on at apt upgrade - a quick check of a few of them indicate that the common factor is identical versions string in both the Ubuntu and Debian repositories. I let apt upgrade perform the action with no obvious ill effects and post downgrade the 'apt policy' output for the two packages I checked is identical.

steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ apt policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
 500 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal/partner i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Canonical,a=focal,n=focal,l=Partner archive,c=partner,b=i386
     origin archive.canonical.com
 500 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal/partner amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Canonical,a=focal,n=focal,l=Partner archive,c=partner,b=amd64
     origin archive.canonical.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/restricted amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=i386
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-backports,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-backports,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/multiverse i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/multiverse amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/restricted i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/restricted amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/backport i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=backport,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/backport amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=backport,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/import i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=import,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/import amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=import,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 700 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/upstream i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=upstream,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 700 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/upstream amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=upstream,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/main i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=main,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=main,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
   1 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main i386 Packages
     release v=10,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian-Security,c=main,b=i386
     origin security.debian.org
   1 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main amd64 Packages
     release v=10,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian-Security,c=main,b=amd64
     origin security.debian.org
   1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates/main i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=buster-updates,l=Debian,c=main,b=i386
     origin deb.debian.org
   1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates/main amd64 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=buster-updates,l=Debian,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
   1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 Packages
     release v=10.4,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian,c=main,b=i386
     origin deb.debian.org
   1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages
     release v=10.4,o=Debian,a=stable,n=buster,l=Debian,c=main,b=amd64
     origin deb.debian.org
Pinned packages:
     chromium-bsu -> 0.9.16.1-2 with priority 1
     chromium-driver -> 80.0.3987.162-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
     chromium-l10n -> 80.0.3987.162-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
     snapd -> 2.44.3+20.04 with priority -10
     snapd -> 2.37.4-1+b1 with priority -10
     chromium-shell -> 80.0.3987.162-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
     chromium -> 80.0.3987.162-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
     chromium-bsu-data -> 0.9.16.1-2 with priority 1
     chromium-sandbox -> 80.0.3987.162-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
     chromium-common -> 80.0.3987.162-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
     chromium-tt-rss-notifier -> 0.5.2-2 with priority 700
     chromium-lwn4chrome -> 1.0-3 with priority 700
     chromium-ublock-origin -> 1.22.2+dfsg-1~deb10u1 with priority 700
steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  aspell-en dictionaries-common emacsen-common exfat-utils fonts-beng
  fonts-dejavu-core fonts-deva fonts-gubbi fonts-gujr fonts-guru fonts-indic
  fonts-kacst fonts-knda fonts-lklug-sinhala fonts-mathjax fonts-mlym
  fonts-nakula fonts-navilu fonts-orya fonts-sahadeva fonts-smc-manjari
  fonts-taml fonts-telu fonts-telu-extra fonts-tibetan-machine fonts-yrsa-rasa
  gir1.2-gtkclutter-1.0 gnome-icon-theme gsfonts hunspell-en-au hunspell-en-ca
  hunspell-en-us ifuse intltool-debian laptop-detect libasyncns0
  libclutter-gtk-1.0-0 libdaemon0 libdca0 libexttextcat-2.0-0
  libexttextcat-data libhal1-flash libhsqldb1.8.0-java libjs-mathjax
  libmodule-implementation-perl libnumber-compare-perl libopenal-data
  libpaper1 libservlet-api-java libservlet3.1-java libwildmidi2 libx264-155
  makedev menu-xdg mythes-de mythes-de-ch mythes-en-au patchutils poppler-data
  python3-ifaddr sgml-data ssl-cert ucf wamerican wbrazilian wbritish witalian
  wngerman wogerman wspanish wswiss xbitmaps xfonts-base xml-core zerofree
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 75 to downgrade, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
Need to get 48.5 MB/48.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.
steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ apt policy aspell-en
aspell-en:
  Installed: 2018.04.16-0-1
  Candidate: 2018.04.16-0-1
  Version table:
 *** 2018.04.16-0-1 100
          1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages
          1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2018.04.16-0-1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ apt policy fonts-dejavu-core
fonts-dejavu-core:
  Installed: 2.37-1
  Candidate: 2.37-1
  Version table:
 *** 2.37-1 100
          1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages
          1 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.37-1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages

[smurphos]

On removing the debian repos and rule, following an apt update and apt upgrade which did nothing apt policy against the same packages tested indicates the focal version is installed. Tentative conclusion - ultimately harmless?

[smurphos]

There doesn't appear to be any oddities with my revised bionic rules

/etc/apt/preferences.d/bionic-chromium.pref

# Don't install anything other than chromium from the Bionic repos
Package: *
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: -10

# Pattern includes 'chromium-browser'
Package: chromium-browser*
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 800

# Pattern includes 'chromium-codecs*' (for chromium-codecs)
Package: chromium-codecs*
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 800

# Pattern includes 'chromium-chromedriver' (for chromium-chromedriver)
Package: chromium-chromedriver
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 800

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/bionic-chromium.list

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe

steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ apt policy
Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
 500 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal/partner i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Canonical,a=focal,n=focal,l=Partner archive,c=partner,b=i386
     origin archive.canonical.com
 500 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal/partner amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Canonical,a=focal,n=focal,l=Partner archive,c=partner,b=amd64
     origin archive.canonical.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/multiverse amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/restricted amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=i386
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-security,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-backports,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 100 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-backports,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/multiverse amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal-updates,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/multiverse i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/multiverse amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=multiverse,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/restricted i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/restricted amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=restricted,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20.04,o=Ubuntu,a=focal,n=focal,l=Ubuntu,c=main,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/backport i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=backport,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/backport amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=backport,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/import i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=import,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/import amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=import,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 700 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/upstream i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=upstream,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 700 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/upstream amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=upstream,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/main i386 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=main,b=i386
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 500 http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana/main amd64 Packages
     release v=20,o=linuxmint,a=ulyana,n=ulyana,l=linuxmint,c=main,b=amd64
     origin packages.linuxmint.com
 -10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/universe i386 Packages
     release v=18.04,o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-security,n=bionic,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 -10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=18.04,o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-security,n=bionic,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin security.ubuntu.com
 -10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe i386 Packages
     release v=18.04,o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-updates,n=bionic,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 -10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=18.04,o=Ubuntu,a=bionic-updates,n=bionic,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 -10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe i386 Packages
     release v=18.04,o=Ubuntu,a=bionic,n=bionic,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=i386
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
 -10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages
     release v=18.04,o=Ubuntu,a=bionic,n=bionic,l=Ubuntu,c=universe,b=amd64
     origin archive.ubuntu.com
Pinned packages:
     chromium-chromedriver -> 83.0.4103.61-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 with priority 800
     chromium-chromedriver -> 65.0.3325.181-0ubuntu1 with priority 800
     snapd -> 2.44.3+20.04 with priority -10
     chromium-browser -> 83.0.4103.61-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 with priority 800
     chromium-browser -> 65.0.3325.181-0ubuntu1 with priority 800
     chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra -> 83.0.4103.61-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 with priority 800
     chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra -> 65.0.3325.181-0ubuntu1 with priority 800
     chromium-codecs-ffmpeg -> 83.0.4103.61-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 with priority 800
     chromium-codecs-ffmpeg -> 65.0.3325.181-0ubuntu1 with priority 800
     chromium-browser-l10n -> 83.0.4103.61-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 with priority 800
     chromium-browser-l10n -> 65.0.3325.181-0ubuntu1 with priority 800

[smurphos]

Hi,

If we do want to keep the Debian pinning rules then the general pin priority should be made -10. It doesn't fix the apparent downgrade of packages issue noted, but it does prevent installation of some other packages that are present in Buster but not in Focal.

[smurphos]

A little more insight into the issue with the apparent package downgrade. It looks like immediately after adding Buster pinning rules and running apt-update, apt erroneously identifies installed packages with identical names and version strings in Buster and Focal as needing a downgrade to the Focal version - effectively the result is a re-install.

apt upgrade -s
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
<snip>
Conf zerofree (1.1.1-1 Ubuntu:20.04/focal [amd64])

steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ apt policy zerofree
zerofree:
  Installed: 1.1.1-1
  Candidate: 1.1.1-1
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.1-1 100
        -10 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.1.1-1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages

[smurphos]

Interestingly on Ubuntu 20.04 using the Buster pinning rules it does not exhibit the same behaviour. This is immediately after adding the rules and running sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -s

steve@steve-VirtualBox:/etc/apt/preferences.d$ apt policy zerofree
zerofree:
  Installed: 1.1.1-1
  Candidate: 1.1.1-1
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.1-1 500
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.1.1-1 -10
        -10 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages

[theshoals]

Hi,

If we do want to keep the Debian pinning rules then the general pin priority should be made -10. It doesn't fix the apparent downgrade of packages issue noted, but it does prevent installation of some other packages that are present in Buster but not in Focal.

Thanks for sharing your notes.

I tried setting the default Pin-Priority to -10 locally and was unable to install chromium because there are some dependencies that are only available in Buster:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 chromium : Depends: libevent-2.1-6 (>= 2.1.8-stable) but it is not installable
            Depends: libvpx5 (>= 1.6.0) but it is not installable

Perhaps this is why the priority is documented as 1 instead of -10 on https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/chromium.html?

---

Interestingly on Ubuntu 20.04 using the Buster pinning rules it does not exhibit the same behaviour. This is immediately after adding the rules and running sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -s

steve@steve-VirtualBox:/etc/apt/preferences.d$ apt policy zerofree
zerofree:
  Installed: 1.1.1-1
  Candidate: 1.1.1-1
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.1-1 500
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.1.1-1 -10
        -10 https://deb.debian.org/debian buster/main amd64 Packages

I noticed that apt seems to exhibit different behavior depending on the alphabetical order of the files in /etc/apt/preferences.d/ and /etc/sources.list.d/.

When I use the names "debian-chromium.pref" and "debian-chromium.list", apt-get upgrade -s reports 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 79 downgraded, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

When I use the names "zz-debian-chromium.pref" and "zz-debian-chromium.list", apt-get upgrade -s reports 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

I wonder if this is causing the different behavior between Ubuntu and Linux Mint?

[smurphos]

When I use the names "zz-debian-chromium.pref" and "zz-debian-chromium.list", apt-get upgrade -s reports 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

I wonder if this is causing the different behavior between Ubuntu and Linux Mint?

Thank-you - one mystery solved.

The difference between Mint and Ubuntu appears to be that Ubuntu stores all it's default repos in /etc/apt/sources.list whilst in Mint they are in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list, and i guess apt reads the extra sources in alphabetical order.

Noted re the -10 preventing the installation of some dependencies. It's probably better to still have -10 as the default and specific rules for those chromium dependencies.

[xenopeek]

The refined instructions look to work well. Without problems I could install (with --install-suggests) packages chromium, chromium-common, chromium-driver, chromium-l10n, chromium-lwn4chrome, chromium-sandbox, chromium-shell and chromium-ublock-origin from Buster.

However something strange happens when trying to install chromium-tt-rss-notifier from Buster, it causes chromium to be uninstalled:

$ apt install --no-install-recommends chromium-tt-rss-notifier
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  chromium-common chromium-sandbox chromium-shell libevent-2.1-6 libicu63 libjpeg62-turbo libjsoncpp1 libminizip1 libre2-5
  libu2f-udev libvpx5
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libjs-prototype libjs-scriptaculous
Recommended packages:
  chromium javascript-common
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  chromium chromium-driver chromium-l10n
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  chromium-tt-rss-notifier libjs-prototype libjs-scriptaculous
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 3 to remove and 255 not upgraded.
Need to get 172 kB of archives.
After this operation, 235 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]

Don't know what's going on there.

Looking at remaining chromium* packages:

1. chromium-browser comes from Ulyana and prevents snap install;
2. chromium-browser-l10n and chromium-chromedriver come from Focal and are dummy transitional packages;
3. same for chromium-codecs-ffmpeg and chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra.

Point 1 and 2 have replacements from Buster (chromium, chromium-l10n and chromium-driver respectively) but point 3 have no replacement. IDK if that is an issue. Those packages on Bionic basically shipped a file /usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpeg.so for which I see no Buster alterantive.

[theshoals]

However something strange happens when trying to install chromium-tt-rss-notifier from Buster, it causes chromium to be uninstalled:

The chromium package declares that it breaks the chromium-tt-rss-notifier package, so I believe that's why it's getting removed:

$ apt-cache show chromium

Package: chromium
Version: 83.0.4103.116-1~deb10u2
[snip...]
Breaks: chromium-lwn4chrome (<= 1.0-2), chromium-tt-rss-notifier (<= 0.5.2-2)

The 'Breaks' relationship was added in this commit:
https://salsa.debian.org/chromium-team/chromium/-/commit/fcf27191b9c841519f52c6da3ecf2a87be716b5e#58ef006ab62b83b4bec5d81fe5b32c3b4c2d1cc2

And here are the related bug reports:

• https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=861100
• https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=890392

[xenopeek]

Ah that explains it. chromium-lwn4chrome is at 1.0-3 hence that went okay.

[kimariterikishi]

That's how I did it: PPA or apt-pinning

1. PPA

https://launchpad.net/~ts.sch.gr/+archive/ubuntu/chromium-browser
“Hellenic Schools Technical Support Team” team: PPA for chromium-browser in .deb form

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ts.sch.gr/chromium-browser

echo 'Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-ts.sch.gr-chromium-browser
Pin-Priority: 1001
' |
sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/chromium-browser.prefs

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser chromium-browser-l10n

2. apt-pinning

echo '#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
#                            OFFICIAL UBUNTU REPOS                             #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
### https://repogen.simplylinux.ch/

###### Ubuntu Main Repos
deb http://sk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main universe

###### Ubuntu Update Repos
deb http://sk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-security main universe
deb http://sk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main universe
' |
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/chromium-browser-bionic.list

Help with packages, mirrors:
https://packages.ubuntu.com/ | https://repogen.simplylinux.ch/

echo 'Package: chromium-browser
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-browser-l10n
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
Pin: release a=bionic
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-chromedriver
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg
Pin: release n=bionic
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-browser
Pin: release n=bionic-updates
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-browser-l10n
Pin: release n=bionic-updates
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
Pin: release a=bionic-updates
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-chromedriver
Pin: release n=bionic-updates
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg
Pin: release n=bionic-updates
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-browser
Pin: release n=bionic-security
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-browser-l10n
Pin: release n=bionic-security
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
Pin: release n=bionic-security
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-chromedriver
Pin: release n=bionic-security
Pin-Priority: 1001

Package: chromium-codecs-ffmpeg
Pin: release n=bionic-security
Pin-Priority: 1001
' |
sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/chromium-browser-bionic.pref

Results:

[xenopeek]

Thank all for helping with getting to best steps to get a snap-free Chromium. Now that Linux Mint provides chromium itself, this section has been removed.