Bug#181491: dpkg: Dpkg unpacks files before checking dependencies when dpkg -i is used
Package: dpkg
Version: 1.10.9
Severity: wishlist
I was trying to upgrade aptitude by installing it from a file fetched from
aptitude's developer's homepage. I ran dpkg -i <package>, and files got
unpacked. However, aptitude could not be configured, since it depends on an
unistalled package. This kind of behaviour is harmful in some cases. User A
has package1 and package2 installed on her system. Packages are important to
the user. A new version of package1 is released. Unfortunately it conflicts
with package2. Ms A fetches the the new version, because she has not heard
about apt-get. Then she tries to install the package with dpkg -i.
Unfortunately it can't be configured due to the conflict, so she ended up with
a system that can't have both package1 and package2.
Wouldn't it be more convenient if dpkg warned the user about the conflicts
before unpacking files?
Here's the typescript:
root@debian:~# dpkg -i aptitude_0.2.12-1_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package aptitude.
(Reading database ... 16528 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking aptitude (from aptitude_0.2.12-1_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of aptitude:
aptitude depends on libapt-pkg-libc6.3-5-3.3; however:
Package libapt-pkg-libc6.3-5-3.3 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing aptitude (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
aptitude
-- System Information
Debian Release: 3.0
Kernel Version: Linux debian 2.2.20 #1 Sat Apr 20 11:45:28 EST 2002 i586 unknown unknown GNU/Linux
Versions of the packages dpkg depends on:
ii dselect 1.10.9 a user tool to manage Debian packages
ii libc6 2.3.1-11 GNU C Library: Shared libraries and Timezone
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