Brain dead package management?

["Michael S. Peek" <peek@tiem.utk.edu>]

Hi guys,

Using sarge.

I have a silly apt-get/aptitude question for you.  I have a script that 
sets up a big long command line of packages that I want added to the 
system.  In this command line, I specify that I want the lpr package 
removed, and the cupsys-bsd package installed (the two are mutually 
exclusive -- lpr conflicts w/ cupsys-bsd).  Now, you would think that 
apt-get and/or aptitude would be smart enough to understand this, but 
apparently it's not:

(The packages named tiem-* are custom packages for our site.)

> aptitude -y -o Aptitude::Log=/var/lib/tiem/log-20060901-120519.txt 
> install  kernel-image-2.6-686-smp+
> kernel-image-2.6.8-3-686-smp+
> tiem-adduser-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-dictionaries-common-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-console-data-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-dash-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-discover1-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-exim4-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-hotplug-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-locales-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-man-db-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-netkit-inetd-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-portmap-debconf-cfg+
> tiem-ssh-debconf-cfg+
> portmap+
> tiem-tcpd-cfg+
> tiem-sysvinit-cfg+
> tiem-sysklogd-cfg+
> tiem-ssh-cfg+
> tiem-grub-cfg+
> tiem-nis-client-cfg+
> tiem-nfs-kernel-server-cfg+
> tiem-cron-cfg+
> tiem-autofs-cfg+
> tcpdump+
> ntpdate+
> ntp+
> ntp-simple+
> ntp-server+
> nfs-kernel-server+
> tiem-shells-common-cfg+
> tiem-bash-cfg+
> tiem-dash-cfg+
> tiem-tcsh-cfg+
> tiem-zsh-cfg+
> tiem-shells-cfg+
> tiem-skel-cfg+
> tiem-root-home-cfg+
> csh+
> tcsh+
> zsh+
> apt-rdepends+
> apt-utils+
> apticron+
> debconf-utils+
> alien+
> fakeroot+
> devscripts+
> bar+
> rsync+
> mc+
> screen+
> unzip+
> rsync+
> arj+
> unzoo+
> unrar+
> lha+
> zip+
> openssl+
> xbase-clients+
> xterm+
> vim-common+
> vim+
> vimpart+
> vim-gtk+
> r-base+
> r-base-core+
> r-base-dev+
> r-base-html+
> r-base-latex+
> r-cran-gtkdevice+
> r-doc-html+
> r-doc-pdf+
> r-gnome+
> r-mathlib+
> r-recommended+
> r-cran-odesolve+
> r-cran-triangle+
> r-cran-lhs+
> icaclient+
> graphviz+
> gnuplot+
> libgsl0+
> libgsl0-dev+
> gsl-bin+
> gsl-doc-pdf+
> gsl-ref-html+
> libgdal1+
> libgdal1-dev+
> gdal-bin+
> proj+
> shapelib+
> netcdfg3+
> netcdfg-dev+
> netcdf-bin+
> netcdf-doc+
> libshp-dev+
> grass+
> grass-doc+
> mathematica-5.2-fonts+
> pvwave-8.01+
> pvwave-8.01-license+
> tiem-usb-cfg+
> tiem-hal-cfg+
> tiem-cdrecord-cfg+
> mt-st+
> gphoto2+
> libcdk4+
> gthumb+
> gtkam+
> libexif-gtk4+
> lame+
> liblame0+
> liblame0-dev+
> sox+
> vorbis-tools+
> gxmms+
> xmms-cdread+
> xmms-arts+
> mp3gain+
> libavifile-0.7c102+
> libdvdcss2+
> libfame0+
> lsdvd+
> mjpegtools+
> transcode+
> tovid+
> realplayer+
> libavc1394-0+
> libdv4+
> libdv-bin+
> libquicktime1+
> ffmpeg+
> mplayer+
> kino+
> kinoplus+
> kino-timfx+
> kino-dvtitler+
> vlc+
> vlc-plugin-arts+
> vlc-plugin-esd+
> vlc-plugin-sdl+
> vlc-plugin-svgalib+
> wxvlc+
> gnome-vlc+
> libvlc0-dev+
> mozilla-plugin-vlc_
> ogle+
> ogle-gui+
> okle+
> libpng12-0+
> libpng12-dev+
> libjpeg-progs+
> libjpeg62+
> libjpeg62-dev+
> libao2+
> libimlib2+
> imagemagick+
> sane-utils+
> quiteinsane+
> gimp2.0-quiteinsane+
> imagemagick+
> gimp+
> gimp-data-extras+
> gimp-dcraw+
> gimp-dimage-color+
> gimp-gap+
> gimp-help-common+
> gimp-help-en+
> gimp-helpbrowser+
> gimp-python+
> gimp-svg+
> gimp-texturize+
> xfig+
> transfig+
> mkisofs+
> k3b+
> xcdroast+
> vcdtools+
> vcdimager+
> cdrecord+
> cdrdao+
> cdda2wav+
> dvdauthor+
> dvd+rw-tools+
> dvdbackup+
> dvdrtools+
> cdparanoia+
> grip+
> kaffe-pthreads_
> kaffe_
> gjdoc_
> antlr_
> sun-java5+
> ddd+
> autoconf-doc+
> autoconf+
> autoconf-archive+
> automake1.4+
> autotools-dev+
> autobook+
> gnu-standards+
> doxygen+
> autodia+
> libdigest-sha1-perl+
> perl-doc+
> libxaw6-dev_
> libxaw7-dev+
> libgnome-dev+
> libstdc++2.10-dev+
> libboost-date-time-dev+
> libboost-dbg+
> libboost-dev+
> libboost-doc+
> libboost-filesystem-dev+
> libboost-graph-dev+
> libboost-program-options-dev+
> libboost-regex-dev+
> libboost-serialization-dev+
> libboost-signals-dev+
> libboost-test-dev+
> libboost-thread-dev+
> tiem-apache2-common-cfg+
> tiem-apache2-workstation-cfg+
> tiem-apache2-cfg+
> tiem-exim4-common-cfg+
> tiem-exim4-workstation-cfg+
> tiem-exim4-cfg+
> tiem-courier-cfg+
> tiem-squirrelmail-common-cfg+
> tiem-squirrelmail-workstation-cfg+
> tiem-squirrelmail-cfg+
> tiem-mutt-cfg+
> mb2md+
> lpr_
> cupsys-bsd+
> tiem-cups-cfg+
> limewire+
> azureus+
> curl+
> mozilla-firefox+
> mozilla-thunderbird+
> flashplugin-nonfree+
> apollon_
> bittornado_
> bittornado-gui_
> giftcurs_
> giftui_
> gift_
> xblank+
> xmonitors+
> xterm+
> xfonts-base+
> xfonts-100dpi+
> xfonts-75dpi+
> xfonts-scalable+
> xserver-common+
> xserver-xfree86+
> menu+
> kde+
> kdm+
> koffice_
> libx11-dev+
> libxext-dev+
> libxi-dev+
> xlibs-static-dev+
> x-dev+
> libxv-dev+
> xlibs-dev+
> xspecs+
> gnome+
> fvwm+
> fvwm-icons+
> wm-icons+
> emacs21+
> emacs21-bin-common+
> openoffice.org+
> openoffice.org-help-en+
> openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-us+
> openoffice.org-thesaurus-en-us+
> openoffice.org-mimelnk+
> openoffice.org-gtk-gnome+
> openoffice.org-kde+
> myspell-en-us+
> ooqstart-gnome+
> oooqs-kde+
> tetex-base+
> tetex-bin+
> tetex-extra+
> tetex-doc+
> fig2ps+
> psutils+
> nvidia-glx+
> nvidia-kernel-builder+
> tiem-logitech-mx-500-cfg+
> ^MReading Package Lists... 0%^M^MReading Package Lists... 
> 100%^M^MReading Package
>  Lists... Done^M
> ^MBuilding Dependency Tree... 0%^M^MBuilding Dependency Tree... 
> 0%^M^MBuilding De
> pendency Tree... 50%^M^MBuilding Dependency Tree... 50%^M^MBuilding 
> Dependency Tr
> ee       ^M
> ^MReading extended state information... 0%^M^MReading extended state 
> information.
> .. 0%^M^MReading extended state information      ^M
> ^MInitializing package states... 0% ^M^MInitializing package states... 
> Done^M
> ^MReading task descriptions... 0%    ^M^MReading task descriptions... 
> 2%^M^MReadi
> ng task descriptions... Done^M
> E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
> E: Unable to correct dependencies, some packages cannot be installed
> E: Unable to resolve some dependencies!
> Some packages had unmet dependencies.  This may mean that you have
> requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
> distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
> or been moved out of Incoming.
>
> The following packages have unmet dependencies:
>   tiem-cups-cfg: PreDepends: cupsys-bsd but it is not installable
> ERROR: update-tiem returned non-zero exit code

Notice that "lpr_" and "cupsys-bsd+" are both in the list.

Now, if I call aptitude with ONLY "lpr_" and "cupsys-bsd+" on the 
command line, it works:

> # aptitude install lpr_ cupsys-bsd+
> Reading Package Lists... Done
> Building Dependency Tree      
> Reading extended state information     
> Initializing package states... Done
> Reading task descriptions... Done 
> The following NEW packages will be automatically installed:
>   cupsys-client libcupsys2-gnutls10
> The following packages have been kept back:
>   portmap
> The following NEW packages will be installed:
>   cupsys-bsd cupsys-client libcupsys2-gnutls10
> The following packages will be REMOVED:
>   lpr
> 0 packages upgraded, 3 newly installed, 1 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
> Need to get 234kB of archives. After unpacking 233kB will be used.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] 

What gives?  Does anybody understand why aptitude is behaving this way?

And apt-get does the exact same thing too.

Michael Peek