APT Policy Capstone: Harden apt Config, Holds, Pins, and a Broken Repo
ExpertLinux+ Exam Prep40-60 minAn APT setup is sloppy in six independent ways. Correct them all. Grading uses the real apt tooling (apt-config dump, apt-mark showhold) plus the pin/repo files — no network is used. See /root/brief.txt for the exact package/priority/suite names.
1. Recommends — APT is configured to pull in Recommends on every install (bloat). It shouldn't be.
2. Suggests — APT is likewise configured to pull in Suggests. It shouldn't be; don't fix one and forget the other.
3. Hold a package — the named package must never be auto-upgraded. Put it on hold.
4. Pin a package — the named package must be pinned to the given apt priority via a preferences entry.
5. Fix the repo suite — the sources file has a deb line whose suite is misspelled and isn't a real Debian suite. Correct it to the suite it was obviously meant to be.
6. No stale suite — no active deb line may still reference the mistyped suite.
- Disable Recommends and Suggests via apt.conf.d and verify with apt-config dump
- Hold a package with apt-mark so it isn't auto-upgraded
- Write an apt preferences pin with the correct priority
- Repair a sources.list entry with a mistyped suite
- Reason about apt policy declaratively across config, holds, pins, and sources
Hands-on lab: you work on a real Linux box in your browser, graded on the machine's actual state.