Re: apt-get problem (bug in apt-get?)
On Monday 22 September 2003 08:32 pm, Darryl Barlow wrote:
> Are you running unstable? If so, as of the last time I checked, the
> kdemultimedia package is broken. A bug report was filed some time ago but it
> has not yet been fixed. This is one of the joys of running unstable and the
> price to be paid for running a more "cutting edge" distribution. Personally
> I find it remarkably stable but these things do happen from time to time.
Well, I'm actually running a mixed system with "stable" preferred (but libc6 and
other development packages are from unstable). So it's not a flat single
distribution system -- and that may indeed be why I'm running into this kind
of grief. The version of kdebase-audiolibs I have is from "testing".
But the point is, I'm not having ANY technical problems with kdebase-audiolibs
(my KDE environment has sound effects which I can hear as I use it, and
games etc all have sound as expected).
But apt-get is refusing to *recognize* that it is installed at some times
(when it's a dependency), but insisting that it is at other times (when you try
to install it or when it conflicts).
> I'd say your problem is with the version of the package rather than the
> package itself not being installed. I think you will find all will install
> fine when the bug is resolved. If you are really desperate you can force the
> install of whatever package has the unresolved dependency and hope it works
> or that you can make it work by symlinking libraries etc,. or perhaps install
> from source.
Like I said -- it IS installed. Dpkg thinks so, and even apt-get thinks so when
you ask it to install it again. And it works -- I use it everyday. But apt-get
still complains that that it's "not installed" whenever I try to install something
that depends on it. And it's NOT a version issue, because non of the packages
in question ask for a specific version of the package, they just depend on
"kdebase-audiolibs OR kdebase3-audiolibs".
I can work around it by using --reinstall and including kdebase-audiolibs on
*every*single*usage* of apt-get. But that's just really stupid. Especially since
that actually does cause it to reinstall needlessly.
So you see, apt-get is making logically contradictory claims. So what
we're talking about is a package database that contains a logical
contradiction. And furthermore, the claim that the package is not
installed is refuted by the simple fact that the program it installs is working
just fine.
So I'm still inclined to suspect that there is something wrong in the database,
and therefore in the programs that manage it, rather than a problem in
the package (of course, maybe the package has some irregularity that
triggers this mismanagement, but that still should be under apt-get's
control). Hopefully apt-get is not designed to assume that packages will
cooperatively manage the database?! (Remember how successful
"cooperative multi-tasking" was?).
Unfortunately, even if this is all true, I don't have any way to know when
or on what stimulus the problem occured, so it'd be nearly impossible to
identify a specific "bug" to report. I was more wondering if anybody
knew how to verify the contents of the Debian package database.
I pretty much treat it as a black box, and never touch it. :-)
> The better option is probably to wait.
Ah, but for what? ;-) Well, it's not crippling at the moment -- it's only
blocking installation of a few games my kids want, and there are other
ways around that. It's just a matter of maintenance.
Cheers,
Terry
--
Terry Hancock ( hancock at anansispaceworks.com )
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.anansispaceworks.com
Reply to: