Debian Bug report logs - #594689
apt 0.8.0 breaks autoremove

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@downhill.at.eu.org>

To: submit@bugs.debian.org

Subject: apt 0.8.0 breaks autoremove

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:21:50 +0200

Package: apt
Version: 0.8.0
Severity: important

Hello,

since todays upgrade (apt 0.7.25.3 -> 0.8.0) autoremove is broken.

"apt-get install debhelper" installs debhelper and po-debconf,
po-debconf is added to /var/lib/apt/extended_states with
Auto-Installed: 1. However after "apt-get remove debhelper" executing
"apt-get autoremove" will not remove po-debconf (although it is a leaf
package as shown by "apt-get remove po-debconf" succeeding.

cu andreas

--------------------------------
(SID)ametzler@argenau:~$ grep -E -A2 'debhelper|po-debconf' /var/lib/apt/extended_states
(SID)ametzler@argenau:~$
(SID)root@argenau:/# DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive  apt-get   --purge install debhelper
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  po-debconf
Suggested packages:
  dh-make libmail-box-perl
Recommended packages:
  libmail-sendmail-perl
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  debhelper po-debconf
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/678kB of archives.
After this operation, 1827kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 
Selecting previously deselected package po-debconf.
(Reading database ... 17705 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking po-debconf (from .../po-debconf_1.0.16_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package debhelper.
Unpacking debhelper (from .../debhelper_8.0.0_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up po-debconf (1.0.16) ...
Setting up debhelper (8.0.0) ...
(SID)ametzler@argenau:~$ grep -E -A2 'debhelper|po-debconf' /var/lib/apt/extended_states
Package: po-debconf
Architecture: i386
Auto-Installed: 1
(SID)root@argenau:/# DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive  apt-get   --purge remove debhelper
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  debhelper*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 1364kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 
(Reading database ... 18027 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing debhelper ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
(SID)root@argenau:/# DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive  apt-get   --purge autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
(SID)root@argenau:/# DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive  apt-get   --purge remove po-debconf
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  po-debconf*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 463kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 
(Reading database ... 17769 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing po-debconf ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
--------------------------------

-- Package-specific info:

-- apt-config dump --

APT "";
APT::Architecture "i386";
APT::Build-Essential "";
APT::Build-Essential:: "build-essential";
APT::Install-Recommends "false";
APT::Install-Suggests "0";
APT::Acquire "";
APT::Acquire::Translation "environment";
APT::NeverAutoRemove "";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^firmware-linux.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-firmware$";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-image.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^kfreebsd-image.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-restricted-modules.*";
APT::NeverAutoRemove:: "^linux-ubuntu-modules-.*";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections "";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "restricted/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "universe/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "multiverse/metapackages";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "oldlibs";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "restricted/oldlibs";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "universe/oldlibs";
APT::Never-MarkAuto-Sections:: "multiverse/oldlibs";
APT::URL-Remap "";
APT::URL-Remap::http://merkel.debian.org/~aba/debian/ "http://ftp.at.debian.org/debian/";
APT::Get "";
APT::Get::Build-Dep-Automatic "true";
Dir "/";
Dir::State "var/lib/apt/";
Dir::State::lists "lists/";
Dir::State::cdroms "cdroms.list";
Dir::State::mirrors "mirrors/";
Dir::State::extended_states "/var/lib/apt/extended_states";
Dir::State::status "/var/lib/dpkg/status";
Dir::Cache "var/cache/apt/";
Dir::Cache::archives "archives/";
Dir::Cache::srcpkgcache "srcpkgcache.bin";
Dir::Cache::pkgcache "pkgcache.bin";
Dir::Etc "etc/apt/";
Dir::Etc::sourcelist "sources.list";
Dir::Etc::sourceparts "sources.list.d";
Dir::Etc::vendorlist "vendors.list";
Dir::Etc::vendorparts "vendors.list.d";
Dir::Etc::main "apt.conf";
Dir::Etc::netrc "auth.conf";
Dir::Etc::parts "apt.conf.d";
Dir::Etc::preferences "preferences";
Dir::Etc::preferencesparts "preferences.d";
Dir::Etc::trusted "trusted.gpg";
Dir::Etc::trustedparts "trusted.gpg.d";
Dir::Bin "";
Dir::Bin::methods "/usr/lib/apt/methods";
Dir::Bin::dpkg "/usr/bin/dpkg";
Dir::Media "";
Dir::Media::MountPath "/media/apt";
Dir::Log "var/log/apt";
Dir::Log::Terminal "term.log";
Dir::Log::History "history.log";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently "";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "~$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.disabled$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.bak$";
Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently:: "\.dpkg-[a-z]+$";
DPkg "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs "";
DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt || true";
DSelect "";
DSelect::Clean "auto";
CommandLine "";
CommandLine::AsString "apt-config dump";

-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --


-- /etc/apt/sources.list --

deb ftp://ftp.at.debian.org/debian sid main
deb-src ftp://ftp.at.debian.org/debian sid main contrib

#deb ftp://ftp.sk.debian.org/debian sid main

# deb http://merkel.debian.org/~aba/debian sid main
# deb-src http://merkel.debian.org/~aba/debian sid main

deb ftp://ftp.at.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main
deb-src ftp://ftp.at.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main


# deb http://snapshot.debian.net/archive pool wvstreams

#deb http://snapshot.debian.net/archive pool cmake

# deb file:///tmp/lynx-apt/ ./
#deb file:///tmp/FIND/ ./

-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-2-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  2010.08.15       GnuPG archive keys of the Debian a
ii  gnupg                   1.4.10-4         GNU privacy guard - a free PGP rep
ii  libc6                   2.11.2-2         Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libgcc1                 1:4.4.4-9        GCC support library
ii  libstdc++6              4.4.4-9          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)
pn  aptitude | synaptic | wajig   <none>     (no description available)
ii  bzip2                         1.0.5-4    high-quality block-sorting file co
ii  dpkg-dev                      1.15.8.4   Debian package development tools
ii  lzma                          4.43-14    Compression method of 7z format in
pn  python-apt                    <none>     (no description available)

-- no debconf information

Message #10 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com>

To: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@downhill.at.eu.org>, 594689@bugs.debian.org

Cc: control <control@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: Re: Bug#594689: apt 0.8.0 breaks autoremove

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:58:36 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

package apt
tag 594689 + patch
thanks

Hi Andreas Metzler,

first of all: Thanks for your excellent report!

2010/8/28 Andreas Metzler <ametzler@downhill.at.eu.org>:
> since todays upgrade (apt 0.7.25.3 -> 0.8.0) autoremove is broken.

You are right, its broken and that even two times - and you can
blame me - who is going bright red with shame now - for both…
(and no, i don't know what i have smoked while introducing
those bugs, so i can't share with interested peers…)

The problem for you is fixed by:

=== modified file 'apt-pkg/depcache.h'
--- apt-pkg/depcache.h  2010-07-04 12:23:20 +0000
+++ apt-pkg/depcache.h  2010-08-28 16:54:58 +0000
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@
    class DefaultRootSetFunc : public InRootSetFunc, public
Configuration::MatchAgainstConfig
    {
    public:
-     DefaultRootSetFunc() :
Configuration::MatchAgainstConfig("APT::NeverRemove") {};
+     DefaultRootSetFunc() :
Configuration::MatchAgainstConfig("APT::NeverAutoRemove") {};
      virtual ~DefaultRootSetFunc() {};

      bool InRootSet(const pkgCache::PkgIterator &pkg) { return
pkg.end() == true && Match(pkg.Name()); };


The rest is the not always true assumption that if this config setting has no
entries something is wrong… (its just unlikely as APT ships a default list).
(Complete patch attached for reference)

Looks like a binary compatible change at first glance, but i will test
later a bit. Otherwise i will do a bit of trickery in MatchAgainstConfig
to fix the misspelling…

No data is lost and in the case someone is in a hurry for autoremove:
Workaround it by providing a APT::NeverRemove list int the configs.
So at least we don't need to break the transition now…


Best regards

David Kalnischkies

[apt-0.8-fix-autoremove.diff (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #17 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@downhill.at.eu.org>

To: 594689@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#594689: apt 0.8.0 breaks autoremove

Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:20:12 +0200

On 2010-08-28 David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
> first of all: Thanks for your excellent report!

> 2010/8/28 Andreas Metzler <ametzler@downhill.at.eu.org>:
> > since todays upgrade (apt 0.7.25.3 -> 0.8.0) autoremove is broken.
[...]
> No data is lost and in the case someone is in a hurry for autoremove:
> Workaround it by providing a APT::NeverRemove list int the configs.
> So at least we don't need to break the transition now…

Hello,

thanks for the supersonic diagnosis, fix and workaround. Amazing.

I can confirm that adding

// temporary workaround for #594689
APT::NeverRemove { "dpkg";  };

to /etc/apt/apt.conf really fixed the issue for me. If anybody else
stumbles upon this bug and needs a workaround he can do a copy and
paste instead of pondering the correct syntax for a minute or two. ;-)

cu andreas

Message #22 received at 594689-close@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Michael Vogt <mvo@debian.org>

To: 594689-close@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#594689: fixed in apt 0.8.1

Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:17:13 +0000

Source: apt
Source-Version: 0.8.1

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
apt, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive:

apt-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
  to main/a/apt/apt-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
apt-transport-https_0.8.1_i386.deb
  to main/a/apt/apt-transport-https_0.8.1_i386.deb
apt-utils_0.8.1_i386.deb
  to main/a/apt/apt-utils_0.8.1_i386.deb
apt_0.8.1.dsc
  to main/a/apt/apt_0.8.1.dsc
apt_0.8.1.tar.gz
  to main/a/apt/apt_0.8.1.tar.gz
apt_0.8.1_i386.deb
  to main/a/apt/apt_0.8.1_i386.deb
libapt-pkg-dev_0.8.1_i386.deb
  to main/a/apt/libapt-pkg-dev_0.8.1_i386.deb
libapt-pkg-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
  to main/a/apt/libapt-pkg-doc_0.8.1_all.deb



A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 594689@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Michael Vogt <mvo@debian.org> (supplier of updated apt package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@debian.org)


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Format: 1.8
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:36:11 +0200
Source: apt
Binary: apt apt-doc libapt-pkg-dev libapt-pkg-doc apt-utils apt-transport-https
Architecture: source all i386
Version: 0.8.1
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: APT Development Team <deity@lists.debian.org>
Changed-By: Michael Vogt <mvo@debian.org>
Description: 
 apt        - Advanced front-end for dpkg
 apt-doc    - Documentation for APT
 apt-transport-https - APT https transport
 apt-utils  - APT utility programs
 libapt-pkg-dev - Development files for APT's libapt-pkg and libapt-inst
 libapt-pkg-doc - Documentation for APT development
Closes: 592695 594211 594232 594238 594241 594255 594265 594303 594435 594458 594627 594668 594689 594809 595176 595182 595234
Changes: 
 apt (0.8.1) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   [ Programs translations ]
   * Thai (Theppitak Karoonboonyanan). Closes: #592695
   * Russian (Yuri Kozlov). Closes: #594232
   * Slovak (Ivan Masár). Closes: #594255
   * Swedish (Daniel Nylander). Closes: #594241
   * Japanese (Kenshi Muto, Osamu Aoki). Closes: #594265
   * Italian (Milo Casagrande). Closes: #594238
   * Asturian (maacub). Closes: #594303
   * Simplified Chinese (Aron Xu). Closes: #594458
   * Bulgarian (Damyan Ivanov). Closes: #594627
   * Portuguese (Miguel Figueiredo). Closes: #594668
   * Korean (Changwoo Ryu). Closes: #594809
   * Norwegian Bokmål (Hans Nordhaug). Closes: #595182
   * Danish (Joe Hansen). Closes: #595176
   * Catalan (Agustí Grau). Closes: #595234
 .
   [ Christian Perrier ]
   * Fix spelling error in cmdline/apt-get.cc. Thanks to Osamu Aoki
     Closes: #594211
 .
   [ Manpages translations ]
   * Portuguese (Américo Monteiro)
 .
   [ David Kalnischkies ]
   * cmdline/apt-cache.cc:
     - show in madison command again also source packages (LP: #614589)
     - remove useless GetInitialize method
   * cmdline/apt-get.cc:
     - remove direct calls of ReadMainList and use the wrapper instead
       to protect us from useless re-reads and two-times notice display
     - remove death code by removing unused GetInitialize
   * apt-pkg/depcache.cc:
     - now that apt-get purge works on 'rc' packages let the MarkDelete
       pass this purge forward to the non-pseudo package for pseudos
   * apt-pkg/contrib/fileutl.cc:
     - apply SilentlyIgnore also on files without an extension
   * apt-pkg/contrib/configuration.cc:
     - fix autoremove by using correct config-option name and
       don't make faulty assumptions in error handling (Closes: #594689)
   * apt-pkg/versionmatch.cc:
     - let the pin origin actually work as advertised in the manpage
       which means "" are optional and pinning a local archive does
       work - even if it is a non-flat archive (Closes: #594435)
Checksums-Sha1: 
 27804c2f40481c56195b8571a6e11256bda47b0a 1282 apt_0.8.1.dsc
 ca2fd7f7e68e3518eb8d1498494e3aecf8dde35f 3044861 apt_0.8.1.tar.gz
 5fac052dfdf7d2ad3172c0b77011e9286f5af616 202458 apt-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
 d9b0876608a2e1cb46c0b3a7543e0904c30a8350 688006 libapt-pkg-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
 7a9a5491b887fefa1a27589a616128886b8ff78c 2042004 apt_0.8.1_i386.deb
 606e3e020450fc9be2fff1acccdc45d31b1a0e09 148110 libapt-pkg-dev_0.8.1_i386.deb
 0ac21b2eeb14930d756177df1d70f1b16ec95684 256876 apt-utils_0.8.1_i386.deb
 22563d6de4e84c2b648e655a9e6d7ce19a95e9f4 80052 apt-transport-https_0.8.1_i386.deb
Checksums-Sha256: 
 d293f52810e646a2afd84a381288a9f08a78fb0e2e157d78bee3add6f3fb16eb 1282 apt_0.8.1.dsc
 31735147159188b0c8ec989864610ffd6f4e7f24a07e42a984f3ea9049161999 3044861 apt_0.8.1.tar.gz
 d029553446d7836fb9281c68994577988d5490f2d62254cc40ce93903f4a6944 202458 apt-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
 63f94121aec17723b8267f27c0fdc76e374d9f1c2826a6f7da9d66c37a3b3a29 688006 libapt-pkg-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
 b67b77b79dbd359313b202ec1e069c64a7a3d4c23a1e7100fc61cec278184c2f 2042004 apt_0.8.1_i386.deb
 6c60680971b4a01082f96a6c54ad200e905e6adfb7bc894ec6285253c9eb11ea 148110 libapt-pkg-dev_0.8.1_i386.deb
 56efbbcee6399cd7ae459312aba4522983b136b66701f888da7e0da52f8a743a 256876 apt-utils_0.8.1_i386.deb
 e13f2845714f93f87263a75e9122c745e67952453664539f0dd3cdaebdb86114 80052 apt-transport-https_0.8.1_i386.deb
Files: 
 47fe5a8563db7597eb1ce19485d1df97 1282 admin important apt_0.8.1.dsc
 69fa9b416cf9e8680b2f61d80fbfd424 3044861 admin important apt_0.8.1.tar.gz
 79d300e649b1fd1297dfc269e0155936 202458 doc optional apt-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
 d60747ae1de92e98c718130651a7fc21 688006 doc optional libapt-pkg-doc_0.8.1_all.deb
 735afa8bbdcb43b0777ec69a95f4318b 2042004 admin important apt_0.8.1_i386.deb
 41c295dac34183ede1df7c003cdb7c8c 148110 libdevel optional libapt-pkg-dev_0.8.1_i386.deb
 7cff898f0da4683673d48bb564cefb90 256876 admin important apt-utils_0.8.1_i386.deb
 e8b7851c751b8d10c6d91fddd679c058 80052 admin optional apt-transport-https_0.8.1_i386.deb

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Message #27 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>

To: 594689@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Still broken?

Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 00:01:11 -0400

Hello

After running into the issue with testing (apt 0.8.0), namely having
installed some ~100 MB of KDE library packages through a temporary
install of kdm, that I expected to be removed after I removed kdm
again, I found this report, so I did:

- try the suggestion with apt.conf (APT::NeverRemove { "dpkg";  };),
but this didn't seem to have any effect

- upgrade apt to 0.8.5 from unstable (apt-get install apt/unstable,
this being the only package I'm using from unstable now); this didn't
remove the kde libs either, but at least it removed some packages
added through a *fresh* temporary install of a package:

t3:~# apt-get install konqueror
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  dolphin kdebase-bin kdebase-data kfind konqueror-nsplugins libkonq5
libkonq5-templates
  libkonqsidebarplugin4a phonon
Suggested packages:
  konq-plugins phonon-backend-gstreamer phonon-backend-vlc
phonon-backend-mplayer
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  dolphin kdebase-bin kdebase-data kfind konqueror konqueror-nsplugins
libkonq5 libkonq5-templates
  libkonqsidebarplugin4a phonon
0 upgraded, 10 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 4,068kB of archives.
After this operation, 10.9MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
...
Get:1 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main phonon
all 4:4.6.0really4.4.2-1 [10.8kB]
Get:2 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main
libkonq5-templates all 4:4.4.5-1 [45.8kB]
Get:3 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main libkonq5
i386 4:4.4.5-1 [132kB]
Get:4 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main dolphin
i386 4:4.4.5-1 [896kB]
Get:5 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main
kdebase-data all 4:4.4.5-1 [901kB]
Get:6 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main
kdebase-bin i386 4:4.4.5-1 [423kB]
Get:7 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main kfind
i386 4:4.4.5-1 [177kB]
Get:8 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main
libkonqsidebarplugin4a i386 4:4.4.5-1 [23.9kB]
Get:9 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main
konqueror i386 4:4.4.5-1 [1,314kB]
Get:10 http://debian.savoirfairelinux.net/debian/ testing/main
konqueror-nsplugins i386 4:4.4.5-1 [145kB]
...
t3:~# apt-get remove konqueror
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  konqueror
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 3,367kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
...
t3:~# apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  dolphin kfind konqueror-nsplugins libkonq5 libkonq5-templates
libkonqsidebarplugin4a phonon
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 7 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 4,260kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
..

So, it *did* remove packages, YET: it didn't remove kdebase-bin.

t3:~# apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
t3:~#

And it still hasn't removed any of the other packages that were
installed by "apt-get install kdm; apt-get remove kdm" before (using
apt 0.8.0). Why?

Christian.

Message #32 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com>

To: Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>, 594689@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#594689: Still broken?

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:57:45 +0200

Hi Christian,

2010/9/26 Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>:
> And it still hasn't removed any of the other packages that were
> installed by "apt-get install kdm; apt-get remove kdm" before (using
> apt 0.8.0). Why?

It could be that an installed package recommends these
packages you think should be autoremovable without problems.

You could try to see that with e.g.:
dpkg -l $(apt-cache rdepends kdebase-bin --important --recommends
--no-depends --no-pre-depends | sed '/^[^ ]/ d')

That should show you the install status of the packages recommending
kdebase-bin, for example.

If that is not the problem please include the files
/var/lib/dpkg/status
/var/lib/apt/extended_status
in a follow up. These files include infos about all packages you
have installed, in which version and which automatic status they have -
if you don't want to provide these information to the world you can
also send them in private to me…


Best regards,

David Kalnischkies

Message #37 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>

To: David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com>

Cc: 594689@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#594689: Still broken?

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:12:39 -0400

> It could be that an installed package recommends these
> packages you think should be autoremovable without problems.
>
> You could try to see that with e.g.:
> dpkg -l $(apt-cache rdepends kdebase-bin --important --recommends
> --no-depends --no-pre-depends | sed '/^[^ ]/ d')

Running that showed me

ii  synaptic            0.70~pre1+b1        Graphical package manager
No packages found matching ssft.
No packages found matching squeak-vm.

Removing synaptic and then running apt-get autoremove in fact removed
kdebase-bin along with 6 other packages; so you're right, and I just
have to figure out more of those recommends to remove all the packages
that were installed because of my temporary install of kdm. (I may
write a script/program some time to figure out the whole network and
point out only-recommended packages, if there's no way to "force"
autoremove to remove those.)

Thanks,
Christian.

Message #42 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com>

To: Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>

Cc: 594689@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#594689: Still broken?

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:42:07 +0200

2010/9/28 Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>:
> Removing synaptic and then running apt-get autoremove in fact removed
> kdebase-bin along with 6 other packages; so you're right, and I just
> have to figure out more of those recommends to remove all the packages
> that were installed because of my temporary install of kdm. (I may
> write a script/program some time to figure out the whole network and
> point out only-recommended packages, if there's no way to "force"
> autoremove to remove those.)

While a script will help in the finer granulated cases where you want
to decide which recommends is okay and which one not
(and please make sure to share it by publishing it somewhere),
APT wouldn't be APT if it wouldn't have an (undocumented) option
for turning off consideration of recommends in autoremove:
-o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=0
but remember that the installation of recommend packages is
recommend (SCNR) as policy defines it as packages which are
installed on all but non-default systems. So it is not unlikely
that you will loose functionality by removing "only" recommends…

That said, it is unfortunately true that some Recommends should
be Suggests instead, but these cases should be reported as bug
to get them fixed.
(Suggests can be considered in autoremove, too,
but the option is per default disabled)

In the synaptic case kdebase-bin is an or-group member btw, so
a solution exists in theory without kdebase-bin, but it is a non-trivial
edge case in general and a different already opened bugreport…


Best regards

David Kalnischkies

Message #47 received at 594689@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christian Jaeger <chrjae@gmail.com>

To: David Kalnischkies <kalnischkies+debian@gmail.com>

Cc: 594689@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#594689: Still broken?

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:19:04 -0400

> -o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=0
> but remember that the installation of recommend packages is
> recommend (SCNR) as policy defines it as packages which are
> installed on all but non-default systems. So it is not unlikely
> that you will loose functionality by removing "only" recommends…

Thanks, that was basically just what I needed; I went through all
packages that the forced autoremove wanted to remove (cancelling it),
explicitely installed those that I wanted to keep, then
force-autoremoved the rest. (Which freed more than 1 GB of storage on
this small machine; BTW I'm usually using apt-get not aptitude to
install packages (although I've used aptitude for the dist-upgrade
from lenny to lenny to testing), so the number of packages to go
through was smaller than it might have been.)

I suggest to document this flag, along with your warning. (I could
write a patch, but I'm sure it would take me much longer than someone
doing it when fits, and it may not be perfect then anyway. Or I could
open a wishlist bug, tell me if I should do so.)

Christian.

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