I know about pinning packages with APT; that's not what I want to do. Other questions have been answered with either using pinning or by using pins temporarily. I don't want to do this...

What I want to do is keep packages back the same way the kernel has been:

# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  linux-generic-pae linux-headers-generic-pae linux-image-generic-pae
The following packages will be upgraded:

I want to add tomcat-* and mysql-* and sun-* to this list. In the past, there was a configuration parameter to do this - I've always thought it was something like Apt::Get::HoldPkgs or Apt::HoldPkgs but I can't find it.

I want to have these packages held from updates until I specifically request them with an "apt-get install".

I found the apt-get configuration Apt::NeverAutoRemove; will this do what I want?

Added Question: I notice that Apt::NeverAutoRemove and Apt::Never-MarkAuto-Sections (among others) are not documented so far as I can see; they're not in the manpages. Neither is aptitude::Keep-Unused-Pattern and aptitude::Get-Root-Command.

Is there any comprehensive and complete documentation for apt.conf?