Re: dist-upgrade wants to deinstall lots of packages?
On Thu, 17 Sep 2020 12:47:24 +0200
Hans <hans.ullrich@loop.de> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> of course, apt-get full-upgrade sometimes wants to deinstall some
> packages, but this here is strange. Take a look:
>
> ---
>
> apt-get full-upgrade
>
>
>
> Really? You want deinstall packages like wicd*, zenmap, d-rats? This
> looks weired for me, as there is no success for wicd (network-manager
> is really pita at the moment), and for zenmap, I believe, lot of
> people might miss it. Hmm, maybe I am too serious, but maybe there
> might be a way to keep these packages? (aptitude hold will, I know, I
> know). It looks for me, it is just a dependencyproblem, with
> python2-packages, maybe these will also run with python3? If so,
> maybe the dependencies can be changed?
>
> Wicd is removed from the repo, I know, but there is no alternative
> for it. If you believe so, then try to let your dad or mum to connect
> to the internet with an alternative you think is working. Try an
> alternative as easy as for wicd-curses. Think you find none.
>
> For myself, I can handle it, but not all debian users are well
> experienced. Think of them, please.
>
> Just my thoughts. :)
>
>
You didn't say which distribution. If it is Stable (Buster), something
is seriously wrong. If it is not Stable, then a beginner would not be
using it. Only Stable is released as Debian, with a version number.
People use Unstable at their own risk, and I use it on my main
workstation. Sometimes something important breaks, but I have more than
one computer. Only twice in about fifteen years has Unstable become so
badly broken as to need reinstallation, and one of those times was after
I had left it too long between upgrades.
With Unstable, the behaviour you are seeing is normal. What happens is
that a group of related packages are released as each individual
package is ready. Some of the other related packages will not be
compatible with the released ones. Some other packages depend on the
related not-released packages.
If you upgrade the packages which are released, dist-upgrade will want
to remove the related non-released packages which are incompatible, and
will also want to remove anything dependent on them. The problem
usually occurs with very large sets of packages, like Qt or KDE.
The solution is to wait until you no longer get the big removal
messages before you accept the upgrade, when all the related packages
have new versions. This may take hours, days or weeks. If you have some
time, you can upgrade individual packages which are not involved with
the problem, and I find Synaptic most useful for doing that. Or apt-get
upgrade, which will not remove packages, will do most of it.
This behaviour is an inevitable consequence of using a rolling release
distribution, rather than a distribution which has definite version
upgrades. Sometimes it rolls over you.
As to Network Manager, I use it on my Stable netbook without problems,
for wifi and VPN. It has not been Notwork Manager for some years, as far
as I'm concerned. I don't use it on Unstable, which is only installed
on a desktop computer which has no need for wifi or VPN.
--
Joe
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