apt-get does not do what dselect says
Hello!
Problem: apt is removing some packages when started from dselect within
prior notice inside dselect.
(this might be related to bug#151662, #157210, but I am
not sure it is the same currently -- maybe discussion makes
it more clear to me, I can tighten up my report and send it
to the BTS)
I didn't upgrade my system due to the libpng/libgtk dependency problems
for some time. And only some partial upgrades for even some more days.
Today I tried again and it looks good inside dselect. Only about
twenty lines shown at the dependency resolution screen.
One of the lines is libsnmp-perl which depends on perlapi-5.6.1
which is not available. One return to leave this page, another to
start [I]nstallation.
After that apt is kindly informing me which packages it is going
to remove. One of that packages is tkmib which had not been deselected
within dselect.
Why does dselect not try to resolve this conflict before letting me
quit out of dselect? perl-base 5.6.1-7 is still installed, satisfying (sp?)
the dependency of libsnmp-perl.
Until now I was under the impression if I leave the dependency resolution
screen of dselect without using "Q" everything is fine. "Fine" meaning,
some packages might not be updated/installed due to dependency problems.
And why does dselect think perlapi-5.6.1 isn't available? perl-base 5.6.1-7
provides it, which is currently installed.
Perl is on hold now which is a possible solution dselect did not offer.
Another example: I had to set perlmagick on hold, too, to prevent webmagick
from being deinstalled. But neither perlmagick nor webmagick appeared
within the dependency resolution screen. If I would just be pressing enter
webmagick would have been deinstalled without prior notice _inside_
dselect. (apt does list it correctly as a package to be removed.
I am a bit lost here as I don't understand the logic inside dselect fully.
With earlier versions of dselect one had to press "Q" to get out of dselect's
dependency screen when there was nothing dselect or you could do about it
(i.e. some dependency which is simply not available). I appreciate the new
behavior where dselect quits by pressing return.
But packages which are set to be updated and will be removed instead
should be listed IMHO (i.e. webmagick and tkmib, see above).
I will try to understand this better and file a proper bug report.
But I wanted to write this mail now nevertheless. Maybe some discussion
speeds it up, maybe someone already thought about this and likes
to share his thoughts.
Regards
Florian
--
Florian Hinzmann private: f.hinzmann@hamburg.de
Debian: fh@debian.org
PGP Key / ID: 1024D/B4071A65
Fingerprint : F9AB 00C1 3E3A 8125 DD3F DF1C DF79 A374 B407 1A65
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