Package: apt Version: probably 0.5.4 Gaute Hvoslef Kvalnes wrote: > There's a (Norwegian) bug report at Skulelinux: > > <URL: http://bugs.skulelinux.no/show_bug.cgi?id=220 > > > ... with this installation log, from which the excerpt in bug#165036 was > retrieved: > > <URL: http://bugs.skulelinux.no/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=29 > > > I don't see any sign of openoffice.org failing to configure. dpkg just tries > to configure openoffice.org-l10n-en first, and fails.The order of > configuration seems random. Another installation log, using a slightly > different set of packages, chooses openoffice.org first and succeeds: I've talked to the dpkg people, and dpkg apparently will do the right thing if asked to configure both packages in the cycle in the same dpkg run. (Namely, it will break the cycle.) As near as we can tell, what happens in this transcript is apt is panicing because so many packages are to be installed, and feeding them to dpkg --unpack in chunks. Then at the end, it is using dpkg --configure, and instead of doing just a single configure run with --all or a full list of packages, it is passing it small shunks of packages to configure. Or maybe just one at a time.. Either way, in this case dpkg is asked to configure openoffice.org-l10n-en and is not asked to configure openoffice.org in the same run. And so it blows up. So this doesn't just effect openoffice, but can randomly affect any pair of packages with a dependency cycle if they're installed along with a lot of other packages and apt begins chunking things like this. So it'll tend to hit new debian installs. From irc: <elmo_home> I think this is the apt thing where it has a hardcoded limit on how much it'll feed dpkg in any one go <wiggy> apt seems to always do that <wiggy> elmo_home: could very well be <joeyh> so it tells dpkg to just unpack stuff in the first run? Yugh <elmo_home> and it's basically set too low if you're installing a bucket load of packages.. mostly it only bites buildds, but if this is a freshish install it could bite you there too <Kamion> apt CVS appears to make that configurable <Kamion> I don't understand why it can't just be nuked though - kernel argv limits? <elmo_home> Kamion: apparently it broke older dpkg's and culus is paranoid *shrug* Apt could use bigger chunks (making this scenario much less likely anyhow), or use the new dpkg control pipe stuff, or I suppose it could detect cycles and make sure dpkg is asked to configure them all at the same time, Until this is fixed, you OOo guys might be justified in removing the cycle. Of course since any of our many other dependency cycles can also trigger the behavior, that is as best a very weak workaround. -- see shy jo
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