How install an application with apt-get and restrict it to a specific repo source?

Question

I used to do something similar with yum on CentOS. I think there was a --enable-repo and --disable-repo param.

Is there something that exists for apt-get install <some pkg> that will restrict to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/<somefile>?

Answer 1

You can do that by pinning the release using /etc/apt/preferences. The man page is apt_preferences. Format is as follows:

 Package: *
 Pin: release o=Debian,a=testing
 Pin-Priority: 900

Answer 2

I don't believe you can do that quickly and easily without a wrapper around apt-get to juggle the sources manually.

One option however is to suffix the package you wish to install with the version number required, which will likely be different in each source.

e.g.

apt-get install cowsay=3.03-9.2