Bug#705452: docbook-xml: Fail to upgrade due to pre-depend problem

[Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>]

On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 02:58:21PM +1000, Stuart Prescott wrote:
> Helmut Grohne wrote:
> > The conclusion here is that the only way to fix this bug in sgml-base is
> > to have *no* dependency on dpkg at all.
> 
> Actually, removing the dependency on dpkg doesn't change the outcome at all -- 
> dpkg is already unpacked and configured in the debug output we have. (I also 
> edited Packages to remove the sgml-base???dpkg relationship and verified it still 
> fails in the same way).

This is not entirely correct. As can be seen in the last succeeding
jenkins log
http://jenkins.debian.net/job/chroot-installation_squeeze_install_kde-full_upgrade_to_wheezy/32/consoleFull
removing the dependency poses another subtle difference. sgml-base is no
longer part of the apt-get dist-upgrade, but already processed in the
apt-get upgrade run. So wheezy has been affected by this issue before
sgml-base 1.26+nmu4 migrated to testing, but it did not show up due to
the way we invoke apt. A user forgetting to run apt-get upgrade before
dist-upgrade would have run into this issue before.

Arguably this is not a bug in sgml-base at all. Nevertheless it needs to
be fixed.

I believe that we will need a deeper look at #482140. At the moment I do
not fully understand that issue and its implications. The root cause
appears to be lenny's update-xmlcatalog being in a temporarily
inconsistent state due to perl changes in etch->lenny. This should no
longer occur, because even squeeze's update-xmlcatalog no longer uses
File::Spec::Functions.

At the moment the following packages pre-depend on xml-core:
 * docbook-simple
 * docbook-xml

I *guess* that demoting those to depends could fix this issue, but I
cannot tell what other implications this may have. I attached .debdiffs
to test for this.

Andreas, could you test those debdiffs with your piuparts setup? I have
a few more requests though:
 * Can you ensure to pass -o Debug::pkgPackageManager=true to apt?
 * Can you get me the log for inspection of possible warnings or hidden
   failures?
 * Can you also try apt-get dist-upgrade *without* running apt-get
   upgrade beforehand?

Thanks

Helmut

diff -u docbook-simple-1.1/debian/control docbook-simple-1.1/debian/control
--- docbook-simple-1.1/debian/control
+++ docbook-simple-1.1/debian/control
@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@
 
 Package: docbook-simple
 Architecture: all
-Pre-Depends: xml-core (>= 0.12)
-Depends: ${misc:Depends}, sgml-data (>= 2.0.2), docbook-xml (>= 4.2-7)
+Depends: ${misc:Depends}, sgml-data (>= 2.0.2), docbook-xml (>= 4.2-7), xml-core (>= 0.12)
 Suggests: docbook-xsl
 Replaces: docbook-xml-simple
 Description: simplified DocBook XML Doctype and css stylesheets
diff -u docbook-simple-1.1/debian/changelog docbook-simple-1.1/debian/changelog
--- docbook-simple-1.1/debian/changelog
+++ docbook-simple-1.1/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+docbook-simple (1.1-4.2) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * Non-maintainer upload.
+  * Demote Pre-Depends on xml-core to Depends. It was used to fix upgrades
+    from etch to lenny, but this is no longer necessary.
+
+ -- Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>  Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:17:05 +0200
+
 docbook-simple (1.1-4.1) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Non-maintainer upload.

diff -u docbook-xml-4.5/debian/control docbook-xml-4.5/debian/control
--- docbook-xml-4.5/debian/control
+++ docbook-xml-4.5/debian/control
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@
 
 Package: docbook-xml
 Architecture: all
-Pre-Depends: xml-core (>= 0.12)
-Depends: sgml-data (>= 2.0.2), ${misc:Depends}
+Depends: sgml-data (>= 2.0.2), ${misc:Depends}, xml-core(>= 0.12)
 Suggests: docbook, docbook-dsssl, docbook-xsl, docbook-defguide
 Provides: docbk-xml
 Description: standard XML documentation system for software and systems
diff -u docbook-xml-4.5/debian/changelog docbook-xml-4.5/debian/changelog
--- docbook-xml-4.5/debian/changelog
+++ docbook-xml-4.5/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+docbook-xml (4.5-7.2) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * Non-maintainer upload.
+  * Demote Pre-Depends on xml-core to Depends. It was used to fix upgrades
+    from etch to lenny, but this is no longer necessary.
+
+ -- Helmut Grohne <helmut@subdivi.de>  Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:15:49 +0200
+
 docbook-xml (4.5-7.1) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Non-maintainer upload.