Bug#44519: dpkg doesn't seem to correctly update the 'Section' of packages

[Peter Maydell <maydell@tao-group.com>]

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.4.1.6

If you install a package whose 'Section' has changed, dpkg doesn't appear to
notice this fact. [Example: most of the non-free stuff has changed from 
'Section: foo' to 'Section: non-free/foo', I think].

This transcript demonstrates the problem: note that the .deb has the correct
Section information, but dpkg -s after installation still uses 'net', not
'non-free/net'.

===begin===
zircon# dpkg --remove dnsutils
(Reading database ... 25937 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing dnsutils ...
zircon# dpkg -s dnsutils
Package: dnsutils
Status: purge ok not-installed
Priority: standard
Section: net

zircon# dpkg -I /var/cache/apt/archives/dnsutils_1%3a8.2.1-5_i386.deb
 new debian package, version 2.0.
 size 500038 bytes: control archive= 944 bytes.
     501 bytes,    15 lines      control              
     783 bytes,    14 lines      md5sums              
 Package: dnsutils
 Version: 1:8.2.1-5
 Section: non-free/net
 Priority: standard
 Architecture: i386
 Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1)
 Conflicts: netstd (<<2.00)
 Installed-Size: 1027
 Maintainer: Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
 Source: bind
 Description: Utilities for Querying DNS Servers
  This package includes the "nslookup", "dig", and "host" programs
  for querying information from the Domain Name System (DNS).  It
  also includes several short aliases (mx, ns, soa, zone, aaaa)
  for querying specific information.
zircon# dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/dnsutils_1%3a8.2.1-5_i386.deb 
Selecting previously deselected package dnsutils.
(Reading database ... 25925 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking dnsutils (from .../dnsutils_1%3a8.2.1-5_i386.deb) ...
Setting up dnsutils (8.2.1-5) ...
zircon# dpkg -s dnsutils
Package: dnsutils
Status: install ok installed
Priority: standard
Section: net
Installed-Size: 1027
Maintainer: Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>
Source: bind
Version: 1:8.2.1-5
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.1)
Conflicts: netstd (<< 2.00)
Description: Utilities for Querying DNS Servers
 This package includes the "nslookup", "dig", and "host" programs
 for querying information from the Domain Name System (DNS).  It
 also includes several short aliases (mx, ns, soa, zone, aaaa)
 for querying specific information.
===endit===

Even purging the package and reinstalling doesn't seem to solve things.

I think that this is what is causing bug #32517 (against vrms, which uses
the presence of 'non-free' in the Section header to locate non-free 
packages.)

[I use apt-get for most package administration; in case it matters, apt
is version 0.3.12.]

Peter Maydell