apt-mark hold has no effect at all. I can install the package afterward without any problems.

Using a preferences file makes it impossible to install any software via aptitude but not only the package intended. So I have to search at some other place for valuable tips to block apt package installations

I am using MX Linux. There are no “/etc/apt/preferences” or “/etc/apt/preferences.d/official-package-repositories.pref” files on my system. Do I have to create one of them?

“Another way to blacklist a package from installation is to update its entry in one of the files contained in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/ directory which is 01autoremove.”

Why not just give the full path of the file as “/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove“? The way the sentence is written it is confusing.

# apt-mark hold libsmbclient smbclient samba-common samba-common-bin

Is this ok?
And in “autoremove file“? Is this fine?

Never-MarkAuto-Sections
{
"metapackages";
"restricted/metapackages";
"universe/metapackages";
"multiverse/metapackages";
"oldlibs";
"restricted/oldlibs";
"universe/oldlibs";
"multiverse/oldlibs";
"smbclient";"libsmbclient";"samba-common";"samba-common-bin";
};
};

Or it should be one package-in-one-line (?):

Never-MarkAuto-Sections
{
"multiverse/oldlibs";
"smbclient";
"libsmbclient";
"samba-common";
"samba-common-bin";
};
};

THANK YOU