Package dependency problem with util-linux and slang

[Nate Eldredge <nge@cs.hmc.edu>]

Hi all,

I am having some trouble resolving a package dependency.

I have util-linux 2.12p-4 installed (this is on unstable).  It has a
PreDepend on slang1a-utf8 (>> 1.4.9dbs-4).  I do have slang1a-utf8
1.4.9-dbs8 installed, but this package has been removed from unstable.
As far as I can tell, slang1a-utf8 has become a virtual package, provided
by libslang1-utf8.  So I would like to remove my slang1a-utf8 package and
use libslang1-utf8 instead.

But I can't figure out how to accomplish this with the usual package
tools.  If I try to do 'apt-get install libslang1-utf8' it wants to
uninstall util-linux and a host of other important packages.  And in
aptitude if I try to remove slang1a-utf8 or install libslang1-utf8 it
marks util-linux as broken and thus won't actually let me install/remove
those packages.

I don't suppose this is related to the unstable C++ migration?  It looks
to me like the correct configuration of packages is available (unlike some
other cases), but I just can't figure out how to get there from here.  I
presume this is a situation that must have come up before, so probably
there is a standard way to handle it and I just don't know what it is.

Thanks in advance for any help.  I will check back on this list but I
would appreciate a personal cc on any replies if convenient.

-- 
Nate Eldredge
nge@cs.hmc.edu