Re: IMPORTANT: What can we do about the base package?

["Susan G. Kleinmann" <sgk@kleinmann.com>]

Hi Dale --
You said:
> On a more general note, I have noticed that the dpkg database has entries
> in it for packages that are no longer on my system and, in fact, do not
> exist any more, but have not been obsoleted. When is it appropriate to
> modify the database, and is there a dpkg option that will "clean" up the
> database to reflect the current state of available packages?

I think this command does what you want:

dpkg --clear-avail

followed by

dpkg --merge-avail <packages file from bo>
dpkg --merge-avail <packages file from non-free>
dpkg --merge-avail <packages file from contrib>

Cheers,
Susan Kleinmann