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Re: Package breakage



On Wed, 26 Feb 2014 08:57:18 -0800 (PST)
Kevin Thibedeau <kevinpt@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I clearly made a mistake in reading the instructions. That doesn't
> change the fact that Emdebian packages are getting installed that I
> never selected.

0: you enabled the wrong repository for what you wanted to do - there's
nothing wrong with the Emdebian Grip packages themselves.
1: apt downloaded some of the packages, so wants to install them
2: you didn't read the documentation which clearly states that all
Emdebian Grip packages have a HIGHER version string than the equivalent
package in Debian - any changes to a package need to change the
version and a higher version allows devices to be upgraded in-place.
3: you did not clean the apt package cache
4: the packages remain available for apt to install
5: apt will always prefer to install packages according to the highest
version number.
6: you seem to be unfamiliar with how apt works

The only part of any of that which is related to Emdebian is the bit
about the documentation. The rest is absolutely standard apt behaviour.
Emdebian has not broken your packages. It would happen with any
repository containing updated packages.

The resolution of this is not down to Emdebian. However, due to how
Emdebian Grip is prepared, the binaries which you have now got
installed are checksum identical to the binaries from the equivalent
Debian packages.You can leave all the packages installed as-is. The
only consequences will be that you will have no manpages, no
translations and no documentation for those packages.

> Then apt started installing *more* Emdebian packages (112 in all)
> even though I *don't* have the repos in sources.list anymore:

$ sudo apt-get clean
removes the downloaded .deb files
$ sudo apt-get update
removes the binary cache of the repository data files.

You had the packages in the apt cache and the cache data still.

It's not a problem - the Emdebian Grip packages are functionally
identical to the equivalent Debian versions. You don't need to change
any more of these unless you want translations, manpages or the docs -
apt will simply upgrade them when a new version arrives in Debian.

On the upside, you now have more free space than you would had when you
started because Emdebian Grip packages are ~40% smaller on average.

> When I try to force the reversion to the Debian version of these
> packages I get the following:
> 
> 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 information may help to
> resolve the situation:

You have managed to get yourself into quite a mess. Thankfully, it was
Emdebian Grip, so your system is not as badly affected as if you had
installed different versions of the executables. e.g. from Ubuntu or
a Debian derivative. Please take the time to learn about how
third-party repositories work before adding them to your system.

If you do want to remove the Emdebian Grip packages you will have to
pick the downgrades individually - the only advice that can help is that
you must start with the leaf packages and then work down the tree - do
not try to do too many at the same time. Pick one or two leaf packages
upon which no other packages depend. Typically, those will be some of
the affected desktop packages. If one package starts leading you down a
rabbit hole of complexity, leave it and pick another.

> I haven't a clue why it still wants to install Emdebian packages or
> where it thinks it's getting them from. Is there some cached data
> that needs to be cleared up?

$ sudo apt-get clean
$ sudo apt-get update

At that point, the only Emdebian Grip packages which will remain will
be those already installed and if your apt sources are back to
standard Debian repositories, there will be no Emdebian Grip packages
for apt to care about.

-- 


Neil Williams
=============
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/

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