Debian has announced the release of Apt 2.6 (Advanced Package Tool), which includes changes accumulated in the experimental branch 2.5. The release has been absorbed into the unstable branch and will soon be transferred to the Debian Testing branch in the DEBIAN 12 branch. Furthermore, it will be added to the package base ubuntu.
Apart from Debian and its derivatives, APT-RPM fork is used in some distributions that are based on the RPM package manager, such as PClinuxos and alt linux. Changes made in the release include the adaptation of tools and configuration files to support the new non-free-firmware repository, along with the transfer of the Non-Free repository with firmware. This enables access to firmware without including the general repository non-free.
The new release also features a reformed file with a list of copyrights and texts of the licenses used to simplify automated analysis. It also documented the parameter “–allow-inSecure-repositories”, allowing restrictions on working with unprotected repositories to be turned off.
Moreover, in search templates, support for the group using round brackets and operations “|” (logical or) is included. The release also includes support for phased updates (PhaSed Update) that enables small test updates to be delivered to a small test group of users first.
All the changes in the release can be viewed from the Changelog.