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When I run sudo aptitude update from the console, I see output with lines such as this:

Get:1 http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release.gpg [198B]
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/main Translation-en_GB

or this:

Hit http://security.ubuntu.com lucid-security Release.gpg
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/main Translation-en_GB

scrolling by.

It's fairly clear that Get:N indicates a download, Hit indicates when I've got something already, and that whatever Ign lines are, they can appear even if source.list has no comments, so they're not 'skipping comment' indicators as I've seen some people say.

After a fair amount of googling, though, that's as far as I've been able to get, so I have two questions:

  1. What exactly does the Ign code indicate?
  2. Is there any documentation (official or otherwise) that lists all the available codes along with what they're for?
Paul Whittaker
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1 Answers1

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What exactly does the Ign code indicate?

It means Ignored. That is, your local file is too recent to be refetched.

Is there any documentation (official or otherwise) that lists all the available codes along with what they're for?

I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if there was none, perhaps because it seems obvious, or because of laziness.

tshepang
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    Can you explain "too recent to be refetched"? That sounds (to me) like "The version I have is already the latest version," which I thought was what `Hit` meant. Do you mean something like "That file's so recent that I won't even check whether or not it's up to date"? – Paul Whittaker Jun 29 '11 at 23:39
  • @PaulWhittaker: yes to "That file's so recent that I won't even check whether or not it's up to date". – tshepang Jun 30 '11 at 00:03
  • thanks. So, has anyone else seen any documentation? – Paul Whittaker Jun 30 '11 at 00:46
  • @PaulWhittaker: I have looked at the source, and there doesn't appear to be any. – tshepang Jun 30 '11 at 01:26
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    I think answer from this link http://superuser.com/questions/454867/how-do-ign-and-hit-affect-apt-get-update has more information, and it said that you got Ign when "there was an error retrieving the file, but the error is being ignored." – HVNSweeting Jan 23 '13 at 03:55
  • I think your answer is incorrect. If you were to run 'apt-get update', and then again, you'd think ALL sources would show 'Ign' on the second update, because the local files would be up to date. But this is not the case. – klokop Jul 06 '15 at 08:49
  • I've noticed recently that I only see this when fetching the `InRelease` files on for repositories that already have separate `Release` and `Release.gpg` files. I'm thus assuming that `Ign` means "harmlessly not present" or "logically irrelevant" rather than saying anything about my local system. In particular, it can't mean "your local copy is too recent" in those cases, since there is no local file. – Paul Whittaker Sep 28 '15 at 16:12
  • Tshepang: would you consider updating your answer in light of my and other comments above? (I'd prefer not to de-accept it if that can be avoided.) As it currently stands, I (now) consider the statement about local files being too recent to be incorrect, based on evidence I've seen, and agree instead with @HVNSweeting's comment. – Paul Whittaker Sep 28 '15 at 16:20
  • @PaulWhittaker feel free to update it for me... I will be notified of the Edit – tshepang Sep 28 '15 at 16:33
  • @PaulWhittaker I only checked the Edit now and found it rejected. I think you should just add an Answer. – tshepang Sep 29 '15 at 17:00