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Re: "dpkg --forget-old-unavail" do nothing



> >  dpkg --forget-old-unavail        forget uninstalled unavailable pkgs
> >
> >Did you have any uninstalled, unavailable packages?  If not, then
>                   ^^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^
> 		  Yes.	       ?
> 
> >that's why it didn't do anything.  If you did, then it's a bug.
> 
> How can I set a package to be unavailable?

You don't - it usually happens when the package was previously
available on an FTP site (or on a CD-ROM, or wherever you get your
"Packages" files from) and no longer is.

I assume that this command might be useful in the following case:

 You had selected a package (ie. xtetris) using dselect and the ftp method 
 when it was "available" from ftp.debian.org, but never installed it.  The 
 flags in the dpkg database (/var/lib/dpkg/status) would be set to install 
 it.  Perhaps you waited a few days, and the package was deleted from
 ftp.debian.org (ie. xtetris violated a trademark).  When dselect is run
 again, it would clear the available list (/var/lib/dpkg/available), and
 re-load it using the Packages file from ftp.debian.org.  Now you've got
 a case where you have something _selected_ to be installed, but it is
 still _uninstalled_, and it is also _unavailable_.  That's where that
 command might be useful (especially to tools like dselect which internally
 call dpkg).

[ Disclaimer:  I'm just guessing about how dpkg might work.  It might not
               actually work this way. ]

Cheers,

 - Jim


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