Bug#601961: apt: wrongly thinks install-info is essential
* Lucas Nussbaum [2010-10-31 15:24 +0100]:
> On 31/10/10 at 14:16 +0100, David Kalnischkies wrote:
> > On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 12:40, Lucas Nussbaum <lucas@lucas-nussbaum.net> wrote:
> > > apt won't let me remove install-info, because it thinks that it is
> > > essential.
> > >
> > > grep depends on dpkg (>= 1.15.4) | install-info
> > > my dpkg is 1.15.8.5
> > > so I should be allowed to remove install-info without that:
> > >
> > > WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
> > > This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
> > > install-info (due to grep)
> >
> > APT uses "essential" here not in the "Essential: yes" sense but
> > in the essential tools and packages sense. APT considers all
> > packages priority "important" or higher as essential for a system
> > And prints this "AnalPrompt" (as the sourcecode puts it) to prevent
> > the user from doing something stupid as it is unlikely that the "normal"
> > user really wants to remove an important package - and all others tend
> > to know exactly what they are doing…
I was able to remove aptitude using apt 0.8.8, so this does not seem to
be correct. Even if it would be correct, this would imho be an awful
feature and more or less equivalent to removing the Essential field.
Apt won't let me remove install-info too, maybe alternative dependencies
are not handled correctly in this case, or at least alternative
dependencies if one of the alternatives is "Essential: yes"?
Regards
Carsten
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