Bug 1526

Summary: apt-0.5: unjustified pkg removal suggestion during install
Product: Sisyphus Reporter: imz <vanyaz>
Component: aptAssignee: placeholder <placeholder>
Status: CLOSED WORKSFORME QA Contact:
Severity: normal    
Priority: P5 CC: boyarsh, glebfm, imz, ldv, placeholder, vt
Version: unstable   
Hardware: all   
OS: Linux   

Description imz 2002-11-07 14:42:28 MSK 
The algorithm for deciding which packages need to be removed doesn\'t seem to be perfect. Sometimes it decides to remove a package even if it could be left happily.

For example, here two commands generate an identical sets of changes except for the removal of \'sawfish\':

# apt-get install gnome-control-center xscreensaver
Reading Package Lists... Done
Collecting File Provides... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome-vfs2
  gnome2-user-docs libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk libbonobo-activation libbonobo2
  libbonoboui libcapplet libgail libgnome libgnome-desktop libgnomeui libgtk+2
  libgtkhtml2 liblinc libpango libstartup-notification libxslt yelp 
The following packages will be upgraded
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-vfs2 libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk
  libbonobo-activation libbonobo2 libbonoboui libgnome libgnomeui libgtk+2
  liblinc libpango libxslt 
The following packages will be REPLACED:
  control-center (by gnome-control-center)  
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  sawfish 
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-control-center gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome2-user-docs
  libcapplet libgail libgnome-desktop libgtkhtml2 libstartup-notification
  xscreensaver yelp 
16 packages upgraded, 11 newly installed, 1 replaced, 1 removed and 569 not upgraded.
Need to get 3202kB/14,0MB of archives. After unpacking 12,0MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.

# apt-get install gnome-control-center xscreensaver sawfish
Reading Package Lists... Done
Collecting File Provides... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Sorry, sawfish is already the newest version.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome-vfs2
  gnome2-user-docs libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk libbonobo-activation libbonobo2
  libbonoboui libcapplet libgail libgnome libgnome-desktop libgnomeui libgtk+2
  libgtkhtml2 liblinc libpango libstartup-notification libxslt yelp 
The following packages will be upgraded
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-vfs2 libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk
  libbonobo-activation libbonobo2 libbonoboui libgnome libgnomeui libgtk+2
  liblinc libpango libxslt 
The following packages will be REPLACED:
  control-center (by gnome-control-center)  
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-control-center gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome2-user-docs
  libcapplet libgail libgnome-desktop libgtkhtml2 libstartup-notification
  xscreensaver yelp 
16 packages upgraded, 11 newly installed, 1 replaced, 0 removed and 569 not upgraded.
Need to get 3202kB/14,0MB of archives. After unpacking 16,1MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.


---

---
Here is what the debugging mode reports. I t can be seen that the decision to remove sawfish is done too early:

[<a href="mailto:root@arrakis" target="_new">root@arrakis</a> root]# apt-get install gnome-control-center xscreensaver
Reading Package Lists... Done
Collecting File Provides... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Starting
Starting 2
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 1 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing xscreensaver via keep of libcapplet
Investigating sawfish
Package sawfish has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 1 as a solution to sawfish 1
  Removing sawfish rather than change libcapplet.so.0
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 1 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing xscreensaver via keep of libcapplet
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 1 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing xscreensaver via keep of libcapplet
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 1 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 10001 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Re-Instated libcapplet
Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome-vfs2
  gnome2-user-docs libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk libbonobo-activation libbonobo2
  libbonoboui libcapplet libgail libgnome libgnome-desktop libgnomeui libgtk+2
  libgtkhtml2 liblinc libpango libstartup-notification libxslt yelp 
The following packages will be upgraded
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-vfs2 libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk
  libbonobo-activation libbonobo2 libbonoboui libgnome libgnomeui libgtk+2
  liblinc libpango libxslt 
The following packages will be REPLACED:
  control-center (by gnome-control-center)  
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  sawfish 
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-control-center gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome2-user-docs
  libcapplet libgail libgnome-desktop libgtkhtml2 libstartup-notification
  xscreensaver yelp 
16 packages upgraded, 11 newly installed, 1 replaced, 1 removed and 569 not upgraded.
Need to get 3202kB/14,0MB of archives. After unpacking 12,0MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.
[<a href="mailto:root@arrakis" target="_new">root@arrakis</a> root]# apt-get install gnome-control-center xscreensaver sawfish
Reading Package Lists... Done
Collecting File Provides... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Sorry, sawfish is already the newest version.
Starting
Starting 2
Investigating gnome-control-center
Package gnome-control-center has broken dep on control-center
  Considering control-center 3 as a solution to gnome-control-center 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Fixing gnome-control-center via remove of control-center
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 3 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing xscreensaver via keep of libcapplet
Investigating sawfish
Package sawfish has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 3 as a solution to sawfish 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to sawfish 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing sawfish via keep of libcapplet
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 3 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing xscreensaver via keep of libcapplet
Investigating sawfish
Package sawfish has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 3 as a solution to sawfish 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 0 as a solution to sawfish 10001
  Added libcapplet to the remove list
  Fixing sawfish via keep of libcapplet
Investigating xscreensaver
Package xscreensaver has broken dep on libcapplet.so.0
  Considering control-center 3 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Added control-center to the remove list
  Considering libcapplet 10001 as a solution to xscreensaver 10001
  Re-Instated libcapplet
Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome-vfs2
  gnome2-user-docs libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk libbonobo-activation libbonobo2
  libbonoboui libcapplet libgail libgnome libgnome-desktop libgnomeui libgtk+2
  libgtkhtml2 liblinc libpango libstartup-notification libxslt yelp 
The following packages will be upgraded
  GConf2 ORBit2 bonobo-activation gnome-vfs2 libGConf2 libORBit2 libatk
  libbonobo-activation libbonobo2 libbonoboui libgnome libgnomeui libgtk+2
  liblinc libpango libxslt 
The following packages will be REPLACED:
  control-center (by gnome-control-center)  
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-control-center gnome-desktop gnome-settings gnome2-user-docs
  libcapplet libgail libgnome-desktop libgtkhtml2 libstartup-notification
  xscreensaver yelp 
16 packages upgraded, 11 newly installed, 1 replaced, 0 removed and 569 not upgraded.
Need to get 3202kB/14,0MB of archives. After unpacking 16,1MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
Abort.
Comment 1 Dmitry V. Levin 2004-01-16 21:04:52 MSK 
Now it works better.