how can i determine why apt-get "keeps packages" back?

[jereme@drjcomputing.com (jereme)]

Hi List,

   Can someone point me towards information regarding why apt-get will
   sometimes say certain packages have been kept back and how i may
   resolve the troubles: (hope this isn't too much information)


   An example of the trouble:

10:35am~$ su
Password:
jereme:/home/jereme# apt-get upgrade
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages have been kept back
  gedit gnome-utils gnumeric
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not
upgraded.
jereme:/home/jereme#


	I first do apt-get update, then I usually do a dry run of the
	upgrade  with `-s', after that, I am usually good to go.  I
	only found one post in the archive and it said this was do to
	"dependency problems", it suggested using `-f' to fix the
	problem.  After looking through the info node, i think i can
	only use --fix-broken with install and remove.
	I then tried `apt-get -f install gnumeric -s' (even though it
	is installed already) This said I needed to install a bunch of
	stuff:


Reading Package Lists...
Building Dependency Tree...
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libgal3 libgnomeprint-bin libgnomeprint-data libgnomeprint11 libole2-0
  libunicode0 
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gnome-print 
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libgal3 libgnomeprint-bin libgnomeprint-data libgnomeprint11 libole2-0
  libunicode0 
1 packages upgraded, 6 newly installed, 1 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Inst libunicode0
Inst libgal3
Inst libgnomeprint-bin []
Inst libgnomeprint-data []
Inst gnumeric []
Remv gnome-print []
Inst libgnomeprint11 []
Inst libole2-0
Conf libunicode0
Conf libgal3
Conf libgnomeprint-bin
Conf libgnomeprint-data
Conf gnumeric
Conf libgnomeprint11
Conf libole2-0


     So i am left with the impression that:
     I installed gnumeric, (for example) at a time when all
     dependencies  were met, now I cannot upgrade because the newest
     version  requires me to remove/install other packages that are
     already installed.

     It is at this point that i am left wondering when will apt
     auto-magically fix these probelms and when does it decide not to,
     what should i be doing? My assumption would be to manually do
     `apt-get -f install' for the three already installed packages,
     gedit, gnome-utils and gnumeric and then try a fresh upgrade,
     which should then run smoother?

     Hope one of you gurus can point me towards info that will help me
     iron this out.  Thanks for the help!  Hope my explanation was
     clear enough.


Sincerely,
jereme


+--------------------------------------------------------------+
Jereme Corrado <jereme@drjcomputing.com>
Net Admin 			
Restorative Management Corp.
GPG Print: 7CDC C3B9 53BF 9EE3 5CEE 5AAD EACA 5218 BFFA D445
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend and inside of a dog,
it's too dark to read."