Synaptic's Custom Filter Corruption Workaround

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials Tips & Tricks
#1

I’m curious who else has entered several custom filters in synaptic only to find out they are not set correctly? For example, you enter 4 custom filters in a row, they all end up like the first one?

Just this weekend, I found out what does this and how to avoid it. It goes like this…

When entering all the checked items for a newly created filter. DO NOT CLICK “NEW” for the next one - that starts the corruption. Click something else first.

I find clicking other filters first works great and I can put my 10 or so custom filters in place quickly - something I haven’t been able to do in years.

Have YOU seen this or am I the last one on the planet using synaptic’s custom filters? :confused: :slight_smile:

#2

Genuinely I was not aware of the existence of filters, so just to understand what your post is about,
I took a look in the synaptic preferences and found some options I did not know.
Although installing Synaptic is one of the first things I do when I put Ubuntu on my pc (since 12.04) but I’ve always used the default settings as I think most users do.

#3

Hi Mary, I love Synaptic and use it 100%. It has a searchable history and can report packages by the repository.

Unfortunately, many of the more subtle features are getting plain buggy and it seems to be getting worse with time. For several years I’ve not recommended it to new users because of this.

But I recently installed Debian 9.0 Stretch and sure enough - Synaptic is still the core package for GUI updating. :slight_smile:

#4

I also love synaptic, i do not understand why it is not by default.
Instead I would retire Software Center.

I was also reading this post Getting the Quick Filter back in Synaptic

Advanced users can activate filters and advanced preferences, maybe they are unused because forums talk little about them.
Moreover, the guides are generic and do not explain the advanced features.

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