Re: Status of repository debian/testing?
On Sun, 27 Sep 2015 13:28:51 +0200
Hans <hans.ullrich@loop.de> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> since some months the debian repository of testing and unstable looks
> in a strange state. AFAIK this is caused by the change to GCC5.
>
> Please understand, that I do not want to mourne. Instead I would like
> to know, if I have to do something or just wait.
>
> When I do an aptitude full-upgrade, there appear a lot of unresolved
> dependencies. Worse with using apt-get: apt-get wants to deinstall
> lots of packages (kde, libreoffice and so on.)
>
> So, can someone tell me in a few words, what is the state of the
> repo? Of course, if I have to change something on my systems (for
> example to force to install special packages, get rid of special libs
> or whatever), please let me know.
>
> On the other hand, please understand, that I want to use KDE further
> on, and want to keep libreoffice, amarok and all the other (mostly
> kde related) apps, which are installed at the moment.
>
> Here is the output of aptitude full-upgrade (not complete):
>
> ------------------- snip -----------
>
> .........
> .........
> .........
> 475 packages upgraded, 123 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not
> upgraded. Need to get 678 MB of archives. After unpacking 745 MB will
> be used. The following packages have unmet dependencies:
> (then follows a list of tons of libraries and dependencies)
> ........
> .........
> ........
> open: 4951; closed: 6296; defer: 5; conflict:
> 5 No solution found within the allotted time. Try harder? [Y/n]
>
> (Enetering "n" gives me)
> Resolve these dependencies by hand? [N/+/-/_/:/?]
>
>
> ------------------- snap ----------------
>
> For me it looks like, there are only 5 conflicts (or does this mean 5
> libs?), which breaks the update. Can this be easily solved? Really,
> any hints are welcome. At the moment, I am aborting the upgrade due
> to this messages.
>
Firstly, in my experience, aptitude cannot handle an upgrade of this
many packages. In relatively recent times, it stops quickly and gives
the kind of output you describe. No, it does not mean only five
conflicts, it means that only five have been discovered in the time it
spent trying. You can keep pressing 'y', and each time it will search a
bit more, but I don't think it will find an answer in your case. In the
past, I have upgraded unstable installations after six months, and
aptitude used to just appear to chew away indefinitely without finding
a solution. I now use aptitude for frequent upgrades, and apt-get for
large numbers of packages.
Apt-get is much quicker, because it is more simplistic and, often,
brutal. I was in your position a couple of weeks ago, with over 120
packages to upgrade, and aptitude was not getting anywhere. Apt-get
wanted to uninstall about forty packages, one of which was gimp, which
I use frequently. I was advised here that it was likely that gimp could
be immediately reinstalled, so I took a chance and let apt-get do its
worst. The advice was correct, I could immediately reinstall gimp (i.e.
it didn't need to be removed, but apt-get was not sophisticated enough
to work that out) and all is nearly well. There are still a few
packages with bugs, at least in amd64 unstable, but I can live with
that for a while.
So... I've just upgraded unstable, and only the four buggy ones are
outstanding, so unstable is in a fairly consistent state. I don't have
a testing installation, but testing should never be far behind
unstable, so there is a good chance that it is also in a fairly good
state.
What I can't tell you is: if you let apt-get do a dist-upgrade, can you
reinstall everything you need immediately? Maybe, maybe not. I think
that with the number of packages which need to be upgraded, aptitude
will never do the job, so you probably don't have a choice. Have you, by
the way, already done an aptitude safe-upgrade? If not, do so, and then
see how many packages are left. It must help overall, though it may not
be enough to solve your problem.
But I think you will need to use apt-get dist-upgrade, keep careful
track of what gets removed, and then try replacing the parts you know
you need. Not everything removed will need to go back in, some packages
will have been replaced by different ones. I believe both kde and
libreoffice are currently installable, so if you started a new
installation from scratch they would be included, so I would think that
they can be reinstalled. If I was in your position, I would make a
backup, also make a separate copy of dpkg --get-selections, then try it.
I don't think your situation will get any better, the number of
upgrades needed will just increase. I don't think aptitude will ever
manage an upgrade of this size, and I don't think apt-get is clever
enough to do it cleanly.
There was some discussion after the last release, as to whether people
using testing should continue to track testing, or stay with jessie
until testing had 'settled down a bit'. There was an [obviously
correct] opinion that testing would change dramatically quite quickly,
and [I think an incorrect opinion] that this large change could be
avoided by waiting. I was of the opinion that the longer the change was
delayed, the greater the upheaval when it happened. Testing would draw
further and further away from jessie, it would never get closer. I think
your situation demonstrates the disadvantage of waiting.
--
Joe
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