Re: Package system totaly a complete mess
On Sat, 7 Jun 2014 09:48:44 +0200
Thierry de Coulon <tcoulon@decoulon.ch> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I've lived for years using synaptic and I am no so used to aptitude -
> and I don't want to make mistakes...
>
> Possibly my installation is now in such a state that I should
> reinstall, but everything *is* working. Anyway:
>
> - searching for broken packages gives 0 packages in synatiptic but 6
> packages in aptitude.
>
> - marking upgradable packages causes both to want to remove lots of
> things (including parts of cups, Gimp, and of cours all my DE).
>
> - If I try to update with aptitude it gives me a liste of packages
> that should be "removed because they are no more used", which is
> nonsense because most of them ARE in current use.
>
> I am thinking all this comes from the fact that I installed Wheezy
> with Gnome, installed another DE, then removed *parts* of gnome, and
> the system is thinking because part of Gnome is missing, it should
> clean up and remove anything that needs it (the list of removal is
> long, but does include gftp and so). Whats more, the system seems not
> logical, as it wants to remove Gimp but complains that gimp-data (not
> to be removed) needs Gimp....
>
> Any way to bring this mess in order?
>
I'd try aptitude full-upgrade first. That will give you a list of
proposals. If you don't like them, say no, and like Groucho Marx, it
will give you another set, and so on. If you give up first, use 'q' to
abort. If you can't reach an amicable arrangement with aptitude, it
should at least have offered an insight into where the real problem
lies.
Another approach is apt-get -f install, which will offer you a list of
proposed actions which you can decline. apt-get is a little less subtle
than aptitude, and may cut to the root of the problem more quickly, if
brutally.
Another strategy which I find useful on sid, which probably is less use
on wheezy, is to let Synaptic do everything it can without allowing it
to remove anything, then reload and try again. Sometimes the order in
which things are done makes the difference between working and not
working.
Don't forget you can rip out quite large chunks of non-system stuff and
immediately reinstall (usually), which should bring in the right
dependencies. I don't believe anything should ever be uninstallable on
stable, unlike unstable sometimes.
--
Joe
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