Bug#826290: libc6-i686: Neither "$ aptitude show" or "$ apt-cache show" says libc6-i686 is a virtual package

[Aurelien Jarno <aurelien@aurel32.net>]

Hi,

On 2016-06-03 16:28, Kingsley G. Morse Jr. wrote:
> Package: libc6-i686
> Version: 2.22-7
> Severity: minor
> 
> Hey guys,
> 
> I hope you're well.
> 
> 
> * What led up to the situation?
> 
>    While installing security patches, aptitude
>    asked if it would be OK to remove libc6-i686,
>    and neither
> 
>         $ apt-cache show libc6-i686
> 
>     or
> 
>         $ aptitude show libc6-i686
> 
>     reported that libc6-i686 is now a virtual
>     package.
> 
>     Instead, they said libc6-i686 contains the
>     standard libraries that are used by nearly all
>     programs on the system.

That happens because you have a version of libc6-i686 installed on your
system, therefore apt or aptitude show this package. Now that you have
upgraded your system and removed this package, apt and aptitude should
show it is a virtual package.

That said I don't know what we can do from the glibc side point of view
to change this behavior.

Note also that we added a note in /usr/share/doc/libc6/NEWS.Debian.gz of
version 2.22-10 explaining that this package can be safely removed. Is
it enough to consider this bug as fixed?

Aurelien

-- 
Aurelien Jarno                          GPG: 4096R/1DDD8C9B
aurelien@aurel32.net                 http://www.aurel32.net