Score:1

`apt-get update --dry-run` command does not work anymore

cd flag

On older systems, the command apt-get update --dry-run did work and was very useful to check if the real command will work.

With newer versions, we have :

$ apt-get update --dry-run
E: Command line option --dry-run is not understood in combination with the other options

Is there an alternative ?

Note : if someone dares to ask "why would you want to do that ?", I'll answer "why is it not possible anymore ?" ! :)

in flag
What's wrong with running `apt-get update` directly? It's not a command that would wreck something.
cd flag
The dry-run is supposed to be run by our monitoring system, so it's weird to have monitoring probes actually "doing things" on all servers.
Score:2
sm flag

I just tested the behaviour of apt-get update --dry-run on a wheezy system. If I remove one of the list files from /var/lib/apt/lists apt-get update --dry-run downloads the missing file.

This suggests to me that apt-get update --dry-run does the same thing as simply apt-get update.

The --dry-run option is probably no longer valid because it was confusing people into believing that it wasn't modifying the system, when in fact evidence suggests that it was.

cd flag
That's a good point. I indeed was thinking that the dry-run was real. So ok, I'll keep in mind that there is (and was) no way to simulate an "apt-get update". Thanks for your answer !
Redoman avatar
bd flag
It could be useful to add to this answer whether an actual dry-run mode currently exists or not. Just saying.
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