mjhjmtu

I'm running debian/unstable, in order to build some package I had to upgrade some other package from experimental (namely nvidia drivers version 396 and cuda to build ffmpeg with cuda support). Everything is fine and I was happy until today, now I see that apt upgrade want to downgrade the driver packages to version 390.

I know about setting packages on hold but that won't upgrade anymore, I'll have to check manually for new packages version in the unstable branch. I know a bit about apt pinning, but looks to me like giving priority to some repository over others (I don't want any package from experimental to be installed automatically).

Is there a configuration where I can keep the experimental packages until the one in unstable reach the same or greater version?

update

list of the experimental packages installed

aptitude search ~S~i~Aexperimental:

i fonts-anonymous-pro - fixed width font designed for coders 
i A libaccinj64-9.2 - NVIDIA ACCINJ Library (64-bit) 
i A libcublas9.2 - NVIDIA cuBLAS Library 
i A libcuda1 - NVIDIA CUDA Driver Library 
i A libcudart9.2 - NVIDIA CUDA Runtime Library 
i A libcufft9.2 - NVIDIA cuFFT Library 
i A libcufftw9.2 - NVIDIA cuFFTW Library 
i A libcuinj64-9.2 - NVIDIA CUINJ Library (64-bit) 
i A libcurand9.2 - NVIDIA cuRAND Library 
i A libcusolver9.2 - NVIDIA cuSOLVER Library 
i A libcusparse9.2 - NVIDIA cuSPARSE Library 
i A libegl-nvidia0 - NVIDIA binary EGL library 
i A libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx - NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX library (GLVND variant) 
i A libgles-nvidia1 - NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 1.x library 
i A libgles-nvidia2 - NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 2.x library 
i A libglx-nvidia0 - NVIDIA binary GLX library 
i A libnppc9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives core runtime library 
i A libnppial9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Arithmetic and Logic 
i A libnppicc9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Color Conversion 
i A libnppicom9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Compression 
i A libnppidei9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Data Exchange and Initialization
i A libnppif9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Filters 
i A libnppig9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Geometry transforms 
i A libnppim9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Morphological operations 
i A libnppist9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Statistics 
i A libnppisu9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Support 
i A libnppitc9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Threshold and Compare 
i A libnpps9.2 - NVIDIA Performance Primitives for signal processing runtime library 
i A libnvblas9.2 - NVBLAS runtime library 
i A libnvcuvid1 - NVIDIA CUDA Video Decoder runtime library 
i A libnvgraph9.2 - NVIDIA Graph Analytics library (nvGRAPH) 
i A libnvidia-cfg1 - NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library 
i A libnvidia-compiler - NVIDIA runtime compiler library 
i A libnvidia-egl-wayland1 - NVIDIA binary Wayland EGL external platform library 
i A libnvidia-eglcore - NVIDIA binary EGL core libraries 
i libnvidia-encode1 - NVENC Video Encoding runtime library 
i A libnvidia-fatbinaryloader - NVIDIA FAT binary loader 
i A libnvidia-glcore - NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX core libraries 
i A libnvidia-ml1 - NVIDIA Management Library (NVML) runtime library 
i A libnvidia-ptxjitcompiler1 - NVIDIA PTX JIT Compiler 
i A libnvrtc9.2 - CUDA Runtime Compilation (NVIDIA NVRTC Library) 
i A libnvtoolsext1 - NVIDIA Tools Extension Library 
i A libnvvm3 - NVIDIA NVVM Library 
i A nvidia-alternative - allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider 
i nvidia-cuda-dev - NVIDIA CUDA development files 
i nvidia-cuda-toolkit - NVIDIA CUDA development toolkit 
i A nvidia-driver - NVIDIA metapackage 
i A nvidia-driver-bin - NVIDIA driver support binaries 
i A nvidia-driver-libs - NVIDIA metapackage (OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES libraries) 
i A nvidia-egl-icd - NVIDIA EGL installable client driver (ICD) 
i A nvidia-egl-wayland-icd - NVIDIA Wayland EGL external platform library (ICD) 
i nvidia-kernel-dkms - NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source 
i A nvidia-kernel-support - NVIDIA binary kernel module support files 
i nvidia-opencl-icd - NVIDIA OpenCL installable client driver (ICD) 
i A nvidia-profiler - NVIDIA Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL 
i A nvidia-smi - NVIDIA System Management Interface 
i A nvidia-vdpau-driver - Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix - NVIDIA driver 
i A nvidia-visual-profiler - NVIDIA Visual Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL 
i A xserver-xorg-video-nvidia - NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

list of the experimental packages installed with version

dpkg -l $(aptitude search ~S~i~Aexperimental |sed 's/^...//'|awk 'print $1'):

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-===============================-=============-============-============================================================================
ii fonts-anonymous-pro 1.002+clean-2 all fixed width font designed for coders
ii libaccinj64-9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA ACCINJ Library (64-bit)
ii libcublas9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA cuBLAS Library
ii libcuda1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA Driver Library
ii libcudart9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA Runtime Library
ii libcufft9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA cuFFT Library
ii libcufftw9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA cuFFTW Library
ii libcuinj64-9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA CUINJ Library (64-bit)
ii libcurand9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA cuRAND Library
ii libcusolver9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA cuSOLVER Library
ii libcusparse9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA cuSPARSE Library
ii libegl-nvidia0:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary EGL library
ii libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX library (GLVND variant)
ii libgles-nvidia1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 1.x library
ii libgles-nvidia2:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 2.x library
ii libglx-nvidia0:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary GLX library
ii libnppc9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives core runtime library
ii libnppial9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Arithmetic and Logic
ii libnppicc9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Color Conversion
ii libnppicom9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Compression
ii libnppidei9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Data Exchange and Initialization
ii libnppif9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Filters
ii libnppig9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Geometry transforms
ii libnppim9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Morphological operations
ii libnppist9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Statistics
ii libnppisu9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Support
ii libnppitc9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives lib for Image Threshold and Compare
ii libnpps9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives for signal processing runtime library
ii libnvblas9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVBLAS runtime library
ii libnvcuvid1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA Video Decoder runtime library
ii libnvgraph9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Graph Analytics library (nvGRAPH)
ii libnvidia-cfg1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii libnvidia-compiler:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA runtime compiler library
ii libnvidia-egl-wayland1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary Wayland EGL external platform library
ii libnvidia-eglcore:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary EGL core libraries
ii libnvidia-encode1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii libnvidia-fatbinaryloader:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA FAT binary loader
ii libnvidia-glcore:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX core libraries
ii libnvidia-ml1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA Management Library (NVML) runtime library
ii libnvidia-ptxjitcompiler1:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA PTX JIT Compiler
ii libnvrtc9.2:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 CUDA Runtime Compilation (NVIDIA NVRTC Library)
ii libnvtoolsext1:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Tools Extension Library
ii libnvvm3:amd64 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA NVVM Library
ii nvidia-alternative 396.54-2 amd64 allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii nvidia-cuda-dev 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development files
ii nvidia-cuda-toolkit 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development toolkit
ii nvidia-driver 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA metapackage
ii nvidia-driver-bin 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii nvidia-driver-libs:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA metapackage (OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES libraries)
ii nvidia-egl-icd:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA EGL installable client driver (ICD)
ii nvidia-egl-wayland-icd:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA Wayland EGL external platform library (ICD)
ii nvidia-kernel-dkms 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source
ii nvidia-kernel-support 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii nvidia-opencl-icd:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL installable client driver (ICD)
ii nvidia-profiler 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii nvidia-smi 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA System Management Interface
ii nvidia-vdpau-driver:amd64 396.54-2 amd64 Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix - NVIDIA driver
ii nvidia-visual-profiler 9.2.148-1 amd64 NVIDIA Visual Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii xserver-xorg-video-nvidia 396.54-2 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

upgrade output (I tried apt-get also and for some reason is different, longer, want to upgrade the boost libraries too)

apt -s upgrade:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree 
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
 libdns-export1102 libisc-export169
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
 libdns-export1104 libisc-export1100
The following packages have been kept back:
 icu-devtools libboost-atomic1.62-dev libboost-atomic1.62.0 libboost-chrono-dev libboost-chrono1.62-dev libboost-chrono1.62.0
 libboost-context1.62-dev libboost-context1.62.0 libboost-coroutine1.62-dev libboost-coroutine1.62.0 libboost-date-time1.62-dev
 libboost-date-time1.62.0 libboost-dev libboost-exception1.62-dev libboost-fiber1.62-dev libboost-fiber1.62.0 libboost-filesystem-dev
 libboost-filesystem1.62-dev libboost-filesystem1.62.0 libboost-graph-parallel1.62-dev libboost-graph-parallel1.62.0 libboost-locale-dev
 libboost-locale1.62-dev libboost-locale1.62.0 libboost-math1.62-dev libboost-math1.62.0 libboost-mpi1.62-dev libboost-mpi1.62.0
 libboost-program-options1.62-dev libboost-program-options1.62.0 libboost-python1.62-dev libboost-python1.62.0 libboost-random1.62-dev
 libboost-random1.62.0 libboost-regex1.62-dev libboost-regex1.62.0 libboost-serialization1.62-dev libboost-serialization1.62.0
 libboost-signals1.62-dev libboost-signals1.62.0 libboost-system-dev libboost-system1.62-dev libboost-system1.62.0 libboost-test1.62-dev
 libboost-test1.62.0 libboost-thread-dev libboost-thread1.62-dev libboost-thread1.62.0 libboost-timer1.62-dev libboost-timer1.62.0
 libboost-type-erasure1.62-dev libboost-type-erasure1.62.0 libboost-wave1.62-dev libboost-wave1.62.0 libboost1.62-dev libicu-dev libicu63
 libicu63:i386 liblxc1 libsane-common lldb lxc python-qscintilla2 python3-lxc
The following packages will be upgraded:
 btrfs-progs check fonts-wine gir1.2-gtk-3.0 git git-gui git-man gitk gtk-update-icon-cache isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common itstool libarmadillo9
 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common libgtk-3-dev libqbscore1.12 libqbsqtprofilesetup1.12 libsqlite3-0 libsqlite3-dev libsqlite3-tcl
 libwine:i386 nvidia-cuda-mps nvidia-egl-common nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-legacy-check nvidia-opencl-common opencl-clhpp-headers python-six
 python3-six qbs-common sqlite3 wine wine32:i386
35 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 64 not upgraded.
Inst nvidia-legacy-check [390.87-3] (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst libisc-export1100 (1:9.11.5+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst libdns-export1104 (1:9.11.5+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst isc-dhcp-client [4.3.5-4+b1] (4.4.1-2 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst isc-dhcp-common [4.3.5-4+b1] (4.4.1-2 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst btrfs-progs [4.17-1+b1] (4.19.1-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst check [0.10.0-3+b3] (0.12.0-0.1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst fonts-wine [3.0.4-1] (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst libgtk-3-common [3.24.1-2] (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst libgtk-3-dev [3.24.1-2] (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64]) 
Inst libgtk-3-0 [3.24.1-2] (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64]) 
Inst gir1.2-gtk-3.0 [3.24.1-2] (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst git-gui [1:2.20.0~rc2-1] (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [all]) 
Inst gitk [1:2.20.0~rc2-1] (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [all]) 
Inst git [1:2.20.0~rc2-1] (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [amd64]) 
Inst git-man [1:2.20.0~rc2-1] (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst gtk-update-icon-cache [3.24.1-2] (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst itstool [2.0.5-1] (2.0.5-2 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst libarmadillo9 [1:9.100.6+dfsg-1] (1:9.200.6+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst libgtk-3-bin [3.24.1-2] (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst libqbscore1.12 [1.12.1+dfsg-2] (1.12.2+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64]) 
Inst qbs-common [1.12.1+dfsg-2] (1.12.2+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst libqbsqtprofilesetup1.12 [1.12.1+dfsg-2] (1.12.2+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst libsqlite3-dev [3.26.0-2] (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64]) 
Inst sqlite3 [3.26.0-2] (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64]) 
Inst libsqlite3-0 [3.26.0-2] (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst libsqlite3-tcl [3.26.0-2] (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst wine [3.0.4-1] (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [all]) 
Inst wine32:i386 [3.0.4-1] (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [i386]) 
Inst libwine:i386 [3.0.4-1] (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [i386])
Inst nvidia-cuda-mps [390.87-3] (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst nvidia-egl-common [390.87-3] (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst nvidia-kernel-source [390.87-3] (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst nvidia-opencl-common [390.87-3] (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Inst opencl-clhpp-headers [2.0.10+git12-g5dd8bb9-1] (2.0.10+git23-gf0b7045-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst python-six [1.11.0-2] (1.12.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Inst python3-six [1.11.0-2] (1.12.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf nvidia-legacy-check (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libisc-export1100 (1:9.11.5+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libdns-export1104 (1:9.11.5+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf isc-dhcp-client (4.4.1-2 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf isc-dhcp-common (4.4.1-2 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf btrfs-progs (4.19.1-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf check (0.12.0-0.1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf fonts-wine (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf libgtk-3-common (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf libgtk-3-dev (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libgtk-3-0 (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf gir1.2-gtk-3.0 (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf git-gui (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf gitk (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf git (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf git-man (1:2.20.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf gtk-update-icon-cache (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf itstool (2.0.5-2 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf libarmadillo9 (1:9.200.6+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libgtk-3-bin (3.24.1-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libqbscore1.12 (1.12.2+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf qbs-common (1.12.2+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf libqbsqtprofilesetup1.12 (1.12.2+dfsg-1 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libsqlite3-dev (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf sqlite3 (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libsqlite3-0 (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf libsqlite3-tcl (3.26.0-3 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf wine (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf wine32:i386 (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [i386])
Conf libwine:i386 (4.0~rc1-1 Debian:unstable [i386])
Conf nvidia-cuda-mps (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf nvidia-egl-common (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf nvidia-kernel-source (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf nvidia-opencl-common (390.87-4 Debian:unstable [amd64])
Conf opencl-clhpp-headers (2.0.10+git23-gf0b7045-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf python-six (1.12.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])
Conf python3-six (1.12.0-1 Debian:unstable [all])

The default apt setup provides the behaviour you’re after: packages can be installed from experimental if requested explicitly, and once installed, they are implicitly held — they won’t be upgraded automatically (even if a newer version is uploaded to experimental) until unstable catches up. They won’t be downgraded either.

The NVIDIA packages which apt wants to touch in your case are nvidia-cuda-mps, nvidia-egl-common, nvidia-kernel-source, and nvidia-opencl-common, none of which you have installed from experimental (they don’t show up in your list of packages installed from experimental). Since they’ve been updated in unstable recently, apt wants to upgrade them; it’s not a downgrade from experimental.

apt isn’t doing anything wrong here, but you should install the affected packages manually from experimental to ensure everything is consistent.