Small bug in apt-cache with pseudo-inexistent packages?

[Marc-Jano Knopp <pub_br_apt@marc-jano.de>]

Hi!

{ Info: I'm using "apt 0.5.28.6 for linux i386" and Debian 3.1r0a
(sorry, I hate code names and can't memorize them, maybe because they're
chosen (at least seemingly) arbitrarily) }

The command "apt-cache show irssi" has an empty output and an exit
status of 0:

,----
|
| # apt-cache show irssi
| # echo $?
| 0
| #
|
`----

Obviously, the package "irssi" should exist, because otherwise,
apt-cache would complain "Unable to locate package irssi", which
it does not.

When running "apt-get install -s irssi", I get

,----
|
| Reading Package Lists... Done
| Building Dependency Tree... Done
| Package irssi is not available, but is referred to by another package.
| This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
| is only available from another source
| E: Package irssi has no installation candidate
|
`----

I think that "apt-cache show irssi" should output something similar
to the above, instead of simply returning to the prompt. And maybe a
non-zero exit status was appropriate, I cannot judge that (Debian
newbie).

And a small question, if you happen to know the answer and have time
for that (no-one in #debian could answer that, so if you don't know,
it won't harm your reputation ;-):

What package is referring to package "irssi"? When I run "apt-cache
depends irssi", I get a line containing only "<irssi>" as output -
the same with "apt-cache rdepends irssi".

Recursive referral?

Also, no-one knew the meaning of the angle brackets around "irssi",
searching for "<" or "bracket" in apt-cache(8) returns no matches.


Best regards

  Marc-Jano