Bug#625801: apt should allow remove package depended on by metapackage and keep metapackage
Package: apt
Version: 0.8.10.3
Severity: important
Today this came up: there is no good reason for gnome-desktop to depend on evolution.
Another one in bug list: Bug#563712
This is generally madness. Really, there is no good reason why removing a particular unwanted package should require
removal of metapackages such as gnome-desktop and/or kde-desktop and seriously mess with further updates. There is
small hope of being able to find all such just walking the depends lists.
There is small excuse to need to download & install, and install security updates for packages that will never
be used just so release control works correctly for metapackages.
Really.
-- Package-specific info:
-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --
-- /etc/apt/sources.list --
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://cdn.debian.net/debian squeeze-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://cdn.debian.net/debian squeeze-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ squeeze main non-free
deb-src http://www.debian-multimedia.org/ squeeze main non-free
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 6.0.1
APT prefers stable-updates
APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii debian-archive-keyring 2010.08.28 GnuPG archive keys of the Debian a
ii gnupg 1.4.10-4 GNU privacy guard - a free PGP rep
ii libc6 2.11.2-10 Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii libgcc1 1:4.4.5-8 GCC support library
ii libstdc++6 4.4.5-8 The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii zlib1g 1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3 compression library - runtime
apt recommends no packages.
Versions of packages apt suggests:
pn apt-doc <none> (no description available)
ii aptitude 0.6.3-3.2 terminal-based package manager (te
ii bzip2 1.0.5-6 high-quality block-sorting file co
ii dpkg-dev 1.15.8.10 Debian package development tools
pn lzma <none> (no description available)
pn python-apt <none> (no description available)
-- no debconf information
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