Sunday, September 4, 2022

[SOLVED] Install specific version of apt package for specific ubuntu version

Issue

I want to install package foo version 1234 in a docker container. I prefer this to the latest version, as it will always work the same way.

So my Dockerfile has this:

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y foo=1234

But the base image is mongodb:4.0.2, which is layered on Ubuntu xenial.

When I build the image, the apt install fails because it cannot find that version. I think xenial doesn't support that version.

So how do I find the latest supported version of a package foo on xenial? If I run apt policy foo it shows me the latest for the ubuntu I'm using (bionic), not for xenial.


Solution

If the package at stake is, say, rlwrap, you could just take a look at the webpage https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/rlwrap

But if you want a proper way to get this version info programatically, you can rely on the Launchpad API, which comes with an official API client implemented as a Python library.

Otherwise, you can directly query the API with tools such as curl and jq (to parse the retrieved JSON data):

$ curl -fsSL "https://api.launchpad.net/1.0/ubuntu/+archive/primary?ws.op=getPublishedSources&source_name=rlwrap&exact_match=true&distro_series=https://api.launchpad.net/1.0/ubuntu/xenial" \
  | jq --raw-output ".entries | .[0] | .source_package_version"

→ 0.41-1build1

As mentioned in this Askubuntu question, a similar API exists for Debian as well.



Answered By - ErikMD
Answer Checked By - Candace Johnson (WPSolving Volunteer)
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