Bug#92287: apt-get installs package when asked to remove it

[kaih@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen)]

jgg@debian.org (Jason Gunthorpe)  wrote on 31.03.01 in <Pine.LNX.3.96.1010331144949.1069B-100000@wakko.deltatee.com>:

> On Sat, 31 Mar 2001, Kai Henningsen wrote:
>
> > # apt-get -ums --purge install libxerces1- libxercesicu1-
>
> Send me a status file while this is happening.

I'll see if I can reproduce it, but it seems to me what happened was  
fairly obvious.

apt-get first noticed that the second package was not installed, so it  
forgot all about not wanting it.

Then it noticed that the -dev package would be without a dependency, and  
decided to install just that second package to fill that void. (Which was  
of course the reason for specifying that package in the first place.)

Mentioning the -dev package as a removable worked around that problem.

Here's the relevant apt-cache data (after the removal - incidentally, an  
empty line between Package: blocks would make this much easier to read,  
currently it groups wrong optically):

Package: libxerces1
Versions:
1.3.0-2(/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_mirror_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages)(/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.uni-erlangen.de_pub_Linux_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages)

Reverse Depends:
  xalan,libxerces1 1.3.0-1.1
  libxercesicu1,libxerces1
  libxerces1-dev,libxerces1 1.3.0-2
  libxalan1,libxerces1 1.3.0-1.1
Dependencies:
1.3.0-2 - libc6 (2 2.2.1-2) libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2 (0 (null)) libxercesicu1 (0 (null))
Provides:
1.3.0-2 -
Reverse Provides:
Package: libxercesicu1
Versions:
1.3.0-2(/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_mirror_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages)(/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.uni-erlangen.de_pub_Linux_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages)

Reverse Depends:
  libxerces1-dev,libxercesicu1 1.3.0-2
  libxerces1,libxercesicu1
Dependencies:
1.3.0-2 - libc6 (2 2.2.1-2) libicu16 (0 (null)) libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2 (0 (null)) libxerces1 (0 (null))
Provides:
1.3.0-2 -
Reverse Provides:
Package: libxerces1-dev
Versions:
1.3.0-2(/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_mirror_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages)(/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.uni-erlangen.de_pub_Linux_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages)

Reverse Depends:
  libxalan1-dev,libxerces1-dev
Dependencies:
1.3.0-2 - libxerces1 (21 1.3.0-2) libxercesicu1 (5 1.3.0-2) libc6-dev (0 (null))
Provides:
1.3.0-2 -
Reverse Provides:

MfG Kai