Bug#655590: apt: [multiarch] "apt-get update" update only one (foreign) architecture

[Vincent Danjean <vdanjean@debian.org>]

Package: apt
Version: 0.8.15.9
Severity: normal

  Hi,

  I'm trying to use apt-get in a multiarch setup. I discovered that
"apt-get update" only download one foreign architecture. I suppose (see my
experience below) that the problem lies in the parsing of
"dpkg --print-foreign-architectures".

vdanjean@eyak:~$ /usr/bin/dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
armel
i386
mipsel
vdanjean@eyak:~$ cat /var/lib/dpkg/arch
amd64
armel
i386
mipsel
vdanjean@eyak:~$

If run "apt-get update" in this situation, only the (native) amd64 architecture
and the armel architecture are downloaded.

If I edit /var/lib/dpkg/arch to switch the armel and i386 architectures,
then "apt-get update" download amd64 and i386 architectures.

ie, "apt-get update" download the native architecture and the first foreign
architecture.

Now, if I change the output of "dpkg --print-foreign-architectures" to
output only one line:
vdanjean@eyak:~$ /usr/local/bin/dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
i386 armel mipsel
vdanjean@eyak:~$ cat /usr/local/bin/dpkg
#!/bin/sh


if [ "$1" = --print-foreign-architectures ]; then
	/usr/bin/dpkg "$@" | tr "\n" " " | sed -e 's/ $/\n/'
else
	exec /usr/bin/dpkg "$@"
fi

vdanjean@eyak:~$

Then, if I run "apt-get -o Dir::Bin::dpkg=/usr/local/bin/dpkg update", then
all four (amd64, i386, armel, and mipsel) architectures are downloaded.

  Regards,
    Vincent

-- Package-specific info:

-- (/etc/apt/preferences present, but not submitted) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list present, but not submitted) --


-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.1.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii  debian-archive-keyring  2010.08.28
ii  gnupg                   1.4.11-3
ii  libc6                   2.13-24
ii  libgcc1                 1:4.6.2-11
ii  libstdc++6              4.6.2-11
ii  zlib1g                  1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3

apt recommends no packages.

Versions of packages apt suggests:
ii  apt-doc         <none>
ii  aptitude        0.6.4-1.2
ii  bzip2           1.0.6-1
ii  dpkg-dev        1.16.2~61.gbp2f1b87
ii  python-apt      0.8.3
ii  synaptic        0.75.4
ii  xz-lzma [lzma]  5.1.1alpha+20110809-3

-- no debconf information