debugging package breakage
summary: I'm a new debian user with some package breakage. I'd appreciate
* assistance with my specific problem (i.e., give me a fish)
* general heuristics for debug package breakage (i.e., teach me to fish)
details: I'm a longtime ubuntu user who switched last week to
$ lsb_release -ds
Linux Mint Debian Edition
$ uname -rv
2.6.39-2-amd64 #1 SMP Tue Jul 5 02:51:22 UTC 2011
While I very much appreciate the better performance I'm getting on LMDE
(which is based on debian testing), I'm also appreciating the extent to
which ubuntu sheltered me from having to learn much about APT :-) So I'd
appreciate your assistance with debugging the following problem:
me@it:~$ aptitude search ?broken
> iB acl - Access control list utilities
> iB coreutils - GNU core utilities
> iB cups - Common UNIX Printing System(tm) - server
> iB libacl1-dev - Access control list static libraries and headers
> iB libarchive1 - Single library to read/write tar, cpio, pax, zip, iso9660, etc.
> iB libgnomevfs2-0 - GNOME Virtual File System (runtime libraries)
> iB libisofs6 - library to create ISO9660 images
> iB ntfs-3g - read-write NTFS driver for FUSE
> iB rsync - fast remote file copy program (like rcp)
> iB samba - SMB/CIFS file, print, and login server for Unix
for PACKAGE in $(aptitude -F "%p" search ?broken) ; do
for CMD in \
"apt-cache policy ${PACKAGE}" \
"aptitude why ${PACKAGE}" \
; do
echo -e "${CMD}"
eval "${CMD}"
done
echo
done
> apt-cache policy acl
> acl:
> Installed: 2.2.51-3
> Candidate: 2.2.51-3
> Version table:
> *** 2.2.51-3 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why acl
> i libsane Depends acl (>= 2.2.49-4)
> apt-cache policy coreutils
> coreutils:
> Installed: 8.5-1
> Candidate: 8.5-1
> Version table:
> *** 8.5-1 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why coreutils
> i xinit Depends coreutils (>= 7.4-1)
> apt-cache policy cups
> cups:
> Installed: 1.4.6-9
> Candidate: 1.4.6-9
> Version table:
> *** 1.4.6-9 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why cups
> i cups-driver-gutenprint Depends cups (>= 1.3.0)
> apt-cache policy libacl1-dev
> libacl1-dev:
> Installed: 2.2.51-3
> Candidate: 2.2.51-3
> Version table:
> *** 2.2.51-3 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why libacl1-dev
> Unable to find a reason to install libacl1-dev.
> apt-cache policy libarchive1
> libarchive1:
> Installed: 2.8.4-1
> Candidate: 2.8.4-1
> Version table:
> *** 2.8.4-1 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why libarchive1
> i libtotem-plparser17 Depends libarchive1 (>= 2.0.25)
> apt-cache policy libgnomevfs2-0
> libgnomevfs2-0:
> Installed: 1:2.24.4-1
> Candidate: 1:2.24.4-1
> Version table:
> *** 1:2.24.4-1 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why libgnomevfs2-0
> i lock-keys-applet Depends libgnomevfs2-0 (>= 1:2.17.90)
> apt-cache policy libisofs6
> libisofs6:
> Installed: 1.1.2-1
> Candidate: 1.1.2-1
> Version table:
> *** 1.1.2-1 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why libisofs6
> i libbrasero-media0 Depends libisofs6 (>= 0.6.14)
> apt-cache policy ntfs-3g
> ntfs-3g:
> Installed: 1:2011.1.15AR.4+2011.4.12-2
> Candidate: 1:2011.1.15AR.4+2011.4.12-2
> Version table:
> *** 1:2011.1.15AR.4+2011.4.12-2 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why ntfs-3g
> i udisks Recommends ntfs-3g
> apt-cache policy rsync
> rsync:
> Installed: 3.0.8-1
> Candidate: 3.0.8-1
> Version table:
> *** 3.0.8-1 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why rsync
> i live-tools Suggests rsync
> apt-cache policy samba
> samba:
> Installed: 2:3.5.8~dfsg-5
> Candidate: 2:3.5.8~dfsg-5
> Version table:
> *** 2:3.5.8~dfsg-5 0
> 500 http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/ testing/main amd64 Packages
> 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> aptitude why samba
> i nautilus-share Suggests samba (>= 3.0.27a)
These all seem like things I'd want--definitely samba (gotta cope with
M$), rsync (my backup scripts use), libgnomevfs2-0 (I want
lock-keys-applet, or something with same function), cups (gotta print),
coreutils (who wouldn't want that?). libacl1-dev I only want because it
helped me solve an install problem (details here
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=79619&p=462540#p462488
). So I did
for PACKAGE in $(aptitude -F "%p" search ?broken) ; do
for CMD in \
"sudo aptitude install -f ${PACKAGE}" \
; do
echo -e "${CMD}"
eval "${CMD}"
done
echo
done
but that just repeats
> No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
So I'm confused. Why does `aptitude` think these packages are broken? If
it's wrong (i.e., the packages are not broken), how do I correct its
misperception? If it's correct, how do I fix the packages, if `aptitude`
won't force install?
Feel free to forward or to point me to FM to RT,
and TIA, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche@pobox.com>
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