Bug#706972: Compare codename during 'apt-get update' to prevent accidental upgrade on a new release
Package: apt
Version: 12-1.1
Severity: wishlist
With the release of Wheezy, it has once again become apparent that some users use terms such as 'stable' and 'testing' in their sources.list file, rather than 'squeeze' and 'wheezy'. Which is fine in itself - as long as they're careful during a new release.
During a release some users accidentally and unintentionally upgrade to some hybrid mix between releases, breaking their system. Some because they don't know there is a new release, others because they don't realise they're using 'stable' instead of 'squeeze' or don't understand the difference. There have been numerous users reporting problems on IRC in #debian today due to this.
The Release file already contains Codename, the canonical name of the release.
I propose a simple method of preventing such accidental upgrades... during 'apt-get update', the Codename on the source can be compared to a cached copy of its last known value. If they do not match a warning message can be displayed stating that the release has changed and asking them to confirm they want to continue, or abort. After a successful update the last known value would be updated.
Providing users actually read this message before choosing to continue this should prevent moving to the release accidentally.
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