Apt .sources changes

EnglishMohican · 2025-10-27 15:41:21

Having posted my main problem just below, I thought I would take the opportunity to ask a further question.

As I understand it, Debian have introduced a new format for the sources files within /etc/apt. The old .list files have become .sources files with a different format within. They have also moved what used to be in /etc/apt/sources.list into /etc/apt/sources.list.d/{Debian|Devuan}.sources.

That is all fine. It seems that this change was made automagically for me without me knowing about it or triggering it.

What is not so fine is that neither synaptic nor apt seem to have been fully updated to allow for this. If I look at the repositories within Synaptic, it shows the contents of the old /etc/apt/sources.list file, but not the new ones. "Apt edit-sources" does the same.They both seem to work, they will do updates so they are aware of the new structure.

This is going to sound a bit like a complaint - but it is not. I like Devuan too much to complain and it's Debian who did it in any case - but what have I missed, surely nobody thinks it is clever to change the data format but not update the programmes that use it. Have I missed an announcement or is there something I do not understand or have not found out?

mclien · 2025-10-27 15:54:21

OK, context in the other post.
Does the problem occur in the instance you dated up from the fresh daedalus install or in both

Last edited by mclien (2025-10-27 15:58:55)

greenjeans · 2025-10-27 16:05:50

Had the same issue myself when I was testing xlibre, Synaptic works with the new deb822 and you'll get the packages, but if you use the menu at the top and select the repositories option to inspect/change/add it won't show the repos that are in the new format in the list.

EnglishMohican · 2025-10-27 16:59:02

Does the problem occur in the instance you dated up from the fresh daedalus install or in both

No, it started very recently, maybe only two weeks ago. The other problem has been rumbling on with me trying things to cure it for a couple of months and the new copy of Excalibur is probably 6 months old.

rolfie · 2025-10-27 17:40:31

Well, that does not happen by chance or arbitrary. There is a definite command at least in Excalibur:

apt modernize-sources

Has to be called deliberately.

EnglishMohican · 2025-10-27 19:19:45

Yes, I agree, there is a command. I discovered that it existed when I was reading through various spiels to try to discover what had happened - which was clearly after it had happened - not before. Therefore I can only suggest that it is called by an update script of some sort as I did not deliberately call it.

What seems more important is what are the plans to get Synaptic/Settings/Repositories and "apt edit-sources" to work correctly.

(I also saw reference to a new?? graphical?? facility for editing the apt sources which we will presumably use in future so it is being worked on.)

It is a warning, notification or documentation that I have not found. Where should I look?

EnglishMohican · 2025-10-28 08:51:33

Does the problem occur in the instance you dated up from the fresh daedalus install or in both

My apologies. I re-read your question and got the meaning clearer so I went back and checked specifically. You are correct. The fresh Daedalus install followed by an immediate upgrade to Excalibur uses the .sources format while the older install that probably started as Chimera and was upgraded to Daedalus and then to Excalibur over several years does not use the new format.

If your suspicions are correct, that it happened as part of the original installation then I am surprised that I have only just noticed it but it is possible. I stuck with the older installation for a while even after the newer one was set up and my recent interest in Freia (to get a corrected LibreOffice Calc) may be the first time I have had to get involved with Apt's sources on this install.

There still seem to be some gaps in this explanation; tying the change to a particular script would be good and understanding why that script would run in one upgrade but not other and so on but I am happy to let that go.

I do however still wonder if there is a development plan somewhere that explains when Apt and Synaptic are going to be upgraded. The present state seems strangely poor.

Sorry again for not reading your post correctly the first time.

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn · 2025-10-28 15:41:20

searched DDG-Lite for "apt modernize-sources"(without the quotation marks) and this was one of the offerings on the first page of results:

https://daniel-lange.com/archives/192-Make-apt-shut-up-about-modernize-sources-in-Trixie.html

greenjeans · Yesterday 17:16:59

RE: the Synaptic bug with not displaying the new format in the settings>repositories window is a known issue, one of the devs even offered a bounty to fix it: https://github.com/mvo5/synaptic/issues/149

Someone subsequently took on the job and tried many times to fix it, but no joy so far, and the guy kinda quit trying looks like about 3 months ago, so I don't know if it's still being worked on: https://github.com/mvo5/synaptic/pull/150

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#1 2025-10-27 15:41:21

Apt .sources changes

#2 2025-10-27 15:54:21

Re: Apt .sources changes

#3 2025-10-27 16:05:50

Re: Apt .sources changes

#4 2025-10-27 16:59:02

Re: Apt .sources changes

#5 2025-10-27 17:40:31

Re: Apt .sources changes

#6 2025-10-27 19:19:45

Re: Apt .sources changes

#7 2025-10-28 08:51:33

Re: Apt .sources changes

#8 2025-10-28 15:41:20

Re: Apt .sources changes

#9 Yesterday 17:16:59

Re: Apt .sources changes

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