Re: Bug#594116: diff dummy package auto-reinstall
reassign 594116 apt
thanks
On Mon, 23 Aug 2010, Rodolfo Garcia wrote:
> Package: diff
> Version: 1:3.0-1
> Severity: normal
>
> Hi!
>
> I have some minor problems with diff.
>
> When I remove the package (dummy) I do not have any problem. But in
> the next apt-get dist-upgrade it will be installed. I tryed to find
> why, but I cannot find any reason.
> [...]
> -- System Information:
> Debian Release: squeeze/sid
> APT prefers testing
> APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable')
The reason is that you still have "stable" in your sources.list.
apt-get considers a package essential as far as it's essential
on *any* distribution you might have in sources.list.
Moreover, "apt-get dist-upgrade" insist on installing essential
packages *even if they are not essential anymore*.
There may be legitimate reasons why apt should install essential
packages, but I wish it would be a little bit smarter in cases like
this one and realize that diff is not essential anymore.
As there is nothing in diffutils which may be made to fix this
behaviour, and I believe there is still room in apt for an
improvement, I reassign this to apt.
My recommendation in either case is that you do not mix distributions
in sources.list, i.e. if you can, upgrade to squeeze completely and
drop stable from /etc/apt/sources.list.
Thanks.
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