Lock a version of a software

This is a very important thing to know if you like a particular version of a software. I'll give you an example to clarify. The current version of Wine is 1.1.41. However most of the Windows programs I have dont run on it. I have found that another version 1.1.31 does the job pretty well. Now if you have installed Wine or have repositories of it enabled, you might unknowingly update your Wine to the latest version, and lose the functionality of it (which is true in my case). I gave the example with Wine, but this applies to any other application.

So, what do you do in such a situation? The answer is surprisingly simple. There is a function in Synaptic which allows you to 'lock' a particular version so that it doesnt update or stays 'as is'.

Here's how you 'lock' a version of any particular software. The screenshots given below has been done with respect to a particular software (Wine in this case), but the same procedure applies to everything else as well.

First up, go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. There, search for your software (in this case its Wine1.2), and select it.



Next, go to the Package option and select/click on Lock version:



After you have done that you will find that a small Lock sign appears next to the software name:



Thats pretty much it! You will now not be updated to a later version of the software unless you un-select the Lock version option.