Re: correcting dpkg status before upgrading
Kenny Wickstrom writes ("correcting dpkg status before upgrading"):
> I have several packages that are installed and seem to be working fine.
> However, dpkg --list reveals that some of the packages' status is
> Installed but the Desired is Purge. How do I change these packages so
> that their status and desired states are both Installed? Is there a way
> to do this without editing the status file? My dpkg is 0.93.42.3.
I think your system got that way when you used an old version of dpkg
manually.
You can fix the problem by using `dselect' - I'd upgrade to the latest
dpkg if I were you. Then you can just select the anomalous packages
using `+' in dselect's package list display.
Alternatively, you can reinstall the packages in question. dpkg
--selected-only (or, on older dpkg's, dpkg --no-also-select) won't
process them, because they're marked as `not wanted on the system', so
if you do this you'll have to make sure dpkg only sees (via explicit
listing on the command line or using --recursive) the packages you
want.
Editing the status file is fairly safe: if you do a global
search-and-replace on `<newline>Status: purge ok installed<newline>',
changing it to `<newline>Status: install ok installed<newline>' you
should be OK.
Keep a backup, and check that dpkg will still read the file after
you've edited it :-).
Ian.
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