Bug#606385: libapt-pkg-libc6 dependency failure prevents debootstrap installation
Package: apt
Version: 0.8.8
I'm experiencing a problem with apt 0.8.8 currently in testing / squeeze
that prevents debootstrap-based installations from completing
successfully because apt fails to provide libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6-4.8.
The problem occurs when I point debootstrap at an internal mirror of the
debian squeeze repository managed with reprepro. The problem does NOT
occur when I point it at the public squeeze repository. Normally this
would suggest there is a problem with reprepro, but I've used it
successfully with local mirrors of Etch and Lenny for several years.
The problem seems to be related to dependencies. debootstrap runs fine
and installs a bulk of the base system until it attempts to configure
the "tasksel" package, at which point it spews the usual five warnings:
----
W: Failure while configuring base packages. This will be re-attempted
up to five times.
----
While chroot'd to the partially-created OS,
# dpkg --configure --pending
reveals the problem or at least a symptom of it:
----
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libept0:
libept0 depends on libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6-4.8; however:
Package libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6-4.8 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing libept0 (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
libept0
----
# apt-cache show apt
shows the following...
----
root@dev108:/usr/share/live/build/lists# apt-cache show apt
Package: apt
Priority: important
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 5984
Maintainer: APT Development Team <deity@lists.debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Version: 0.8.8
Replaces: manpages-pl (<< 20060617-3~)
Provides: libapt-pkg4.10
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.4), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libstdc++6 (>= 4.4.0),
zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.2.3), debian-archive-keyring, gnupg
Suggests: aptitude | synaptic | wajig, dpkg-dev, apt-doc, bzip2, lzma,
python-apt
Conflicts: python-apt (<< 0.7.93.2~)
Filename: pool/main/a/apt/apt_0.8.8_i386.deb
Size: 2140632
MD5sum: 4283aa3bb751253faf1b2204e0229e4f
SHA1: 59d432f56901faa86e814a436b8da010ee1c7b8a
SHA256: 072dcf4359dce9698aeaa54366eb20513f860c2bb6d44a95973c0b2ad413bfab
Description: Advanced front-end for dpkg
<snip>
Package: apt
Priority: important
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 5128
Maintainer: APT Development Team <deity@lists.debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Version: 0.7.20.2+squeeze1
Replaces: libapt-pkg-dev (<< 0.3.7), libapt-pkg-doc (<< 0.3.7)
Provides: libapt-pkg-libc6.9-6-4.6
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.3.4), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libstdc++6 (>= 4.2.1),
debian-archive-keyring
Suggests: aptitude | synaptic | gnome-apt | wajig, dpkg-dev, apt-doc,
bzip2, lzma, python-apt
Filename: pool/updates/main/a/apt/apt_0.7.20.2+squeeze1_i386.deb
Size: 1628232
MD5sum: f6e27ef8e207a4660161cd71d8474487
SHA1: 9b242d6f1fe1f225c8b24fd548ccfb9298eb4bc1
SHA256: 7ea5ceaf0fbae59613351a11cb222191f93c00edd0c31999b6afd42076d0866a
Description: Advanced front-end for dpkg
----
A quick check of the version in use:
# apt-get -v
apt 0.8.8 for i386 compiled on Oct 28 2010 21:46:43
My research thus far:
a) apt 0.8.8 is not providing libapt-pkg-libc6 OR libept0 is
inappropriately depending on libapt-pkg-libc6 OR some other package is
inappropriately depending on libept0 when it should be using libept1.
b) libapt-pkg-libc6 doesn't seem to exist anywhere in any distribution
(courtesy of packages.debian.org), though google did point me to a
cached search result that indicated libapt-pkg-libc6 did exist in sid at
one point.
c) I'm not sure why there are two versions of apt in the repository
(this is not the case on Lenny or Etch) but even if the "older" version
(0.7.20) were used, it provides libapt-pkg-libc6 version 4.6 rather than
the needed 4.8 so it wouldn't solve the problem. For comparison
purposes, Lenny appears to use a tweaked version of 0.7.20 and it
correctly "Provides:" libapt-pkg-libc6.
d) Some searching online reveals this has occurred before (most recently
in squeeze in the April-May timeframe) and the fix was a rebuild of the
apt package with corrected Provides: line.
e) I am not sure why this affects the local mirror and not the public
repository and am attempting to install a later version of reprepro on
our local servers in order to determine if it is related to the problem.
Normally, I'd build a custom version of apt from source and deploy the
updated package in another repository as I often do, but debootstrap
does not permit the use of multiple repositories. Thus, I need someone
to fix it upstream.
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