Bug#435714: apt: verbose dependency explanation

[Matt Taggart <taggart@debian.org>]

Package: apt
Version: 0.7.5
Severity: wishlist

I had a co-worker ask me "is there a way to see why debian 'holds back' 
some packages?". The way I do that, and the consensus on #debian-devel, is 
that you try either installing one of the packages in question or a 
dist-upgrade, with --dry-run turned on, and then see what it would have 
done.

I think it would be nice if you could ask apt why a particular package was 
held up and have it give a a verbose report explaining the dependency 
chain, similar to the way it does when you've installed an impossible 
situation and it tells you the problem.

I suspect that the apt source is the only place the dependency resolution 
logic exists, so I guess it makes sense for apt to provide such a feature. 
I suppose that it could either be a command line switch to apt-get or maybe 
a standalone tool.

Thanks,

-- 
Matt Taggart
taggart@debian.org