Bug#29767: apt-get confused by nested/repeated OR (|)?

[Kevin Dalley <kevind@rahul.net>]

apt-get still has trouble with |, and it doesn't need to be nested.  I 
have the same problem with apt-get from apt-0.1.9.  I am trying to
upgrade gnome-core.

aplysia$ sudo apt-get install libgtkxmhtml0
Updating package status cache...done
Checking system integrity...ok
Sorry, libgtkxmhtml0 is already the newest version
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
aplysia$ sudo apt-get install gnome-core
Updating package status cache...done
Checking system integrity...ok
1 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Sorry, but the following packages are broken - this means they have unmet
dependencies:
  gnome-core: Depends:libgnome0 Depends:libgtkxmhtml0 Depends:giflib3g


dpkg --print-avail gnome-core

Package: gnome-core
Priority: optional
Section: x11
Installed-Size: 1380
Maintainer: Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com>
Architecture: i386
Version: 0.30-2
Depends: gdk-imlib1 (>= 1.8.1-1), libc6 (>= 2.0.7u), libglib1.1 (>= 1.1.3-2), libgnome0 (>= 0.30.1-3), libgtk1.1 (>= 1:1.1.2-2), libgtkxmhtml0 (>= 0.30.1-3), libjpeg62, libpng2, libtiff3g, libungif3g (>= 3.0-2) | giflib3g (>= 3.0-5.2), xlib6g (>= 3.3-5), xpm4g (>= 3.4j-0), zlib1g (>= 1.1.2-0.1)
Filename: dists/frozen/main/binary-i386/x11/gnome-core_0.30-2.deb
Size: 960204
MD5sum: 4ea0132e56c42541d967d0ec81d38336


I have libungif3g installed.  I have also tried installing giflib3g.
Neither situation allows me to install gnome-core.  When I have
libungif3g installed, apt-get complains about giflib3g dependency.
Alternatively, when I have giflib3g installed, apt-get complains about 
libungif3g dependency.  I have both libgnome0 and libgtkxmhtml0
installed.  The problem seems to be the dependency upon libungif3g (>=
3.0-2) | giflib3g (>= 3.0-5.2).  Probably this dependency is repeated
or nested by other gnome-core dependencies.

I have recently upgraded the dpkg available database.  In fact, I
upgraded it many times.

My conclusion is that apt-get has a bug, perhaps in its actions,
perhaps in the reporting mechanism, but that bug still exists in
apt-0.1.9.

--
Kevin Dalley
kevind@rahul.net

 LocalWords:  sudo libgtkxmhtml aplysia libgnome giflib gdk imlib libc libglib
 LocalWords:  libgtk libjpeg libpng libtiff libungif xlib xpm zlib dists ea ec