Bug#1087606: apt-file: Stop working after apt upgrade to 2.9.11

[Niels Thykier <niels@thykier.net>]

Control: tags -1 moreinfo

Christian Marillat:
> Package: apt-file
> Version: 3.3
> Severity: serious
>
> Dear Maintainer,
>
> Here are steps to reproduce
>
> ,----
> | $ apt-file search debian
> | Finding relevant cache files to search ...E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt-file update" first.
> `----
>
> ,----
> | $ sudo apt-file update
> | Atteint :1 http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian unstable InRelease
> | Atteint :2 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
> | Atteint :3 https://incoming.debian.org/debian-buildd buildd-unstable InRelease
> | 5 paquets peuvent être mis à jour. Exécutez « apt list --upgradable » pour les voir.
> `----
>
> ,----
> | $ apt-file search debian
> | Finding relevant cache files to search ...E: The cache is empty. You need to run "apt-file update" first.
> `----
>
> ,----
> | $ ls -la  /var/lib/apt/lists/
> | [...]
> `----
>
> Christian
>
>
> [...]

Hi Christian

The error from apt-file is correct in the sense that there are no 
`Contents` files in your apt-cache (it is possibly misleading in other 
ways).

I would expect at least ftp.fr.debian.org to provide Contents files. I 
assume that your root issue is therefore that your apt configuration 
somehow excludes Contents files for all the sites you are using. The 
default apt-file configuration will fetch Contents files for deb files 
(per /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50apt-file.conf).


I note your are referring to 2.9 as the last working version. As of 
apt-file/3.0, there was a backwards incompatible change as announced via 
the NEWS file. I am curious about how the migration worked out here 
(have you removed the old `/etc/apt/apt-file.conf` or did you update it 
and if so, with what content?).
  Particularly, since 2.9 is older than oldoldstable, so you must have 
either upgraded apt-file directly from 2.9 (not supported as it would 
have skipped a release) or upgraded multiple times but not used apt-file 
for years. In case of the former, the automated migration might have 
been removed. As an example, the automatic removal of the 
`/etc/apt/apt-file.conf` if unchanged was removed in apt-file/3.3.


Could you please provide a dump of your apt config (specifically the 
"Acquire::IndexTargets" prefixed once). A copy of your 
`/etc/apt/apt-file.conf` (if it exists) plus the output of `apt-config 
dump` should do.


Best regards,
Niels

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