set to manually installed ignores --simulate in apt-get

[Fizzfadlt]

Binary package hint: apt

What I do:
ia32-libs is currently installed, marked as auto

I run {{{sudo apt-get --simulate install ia32-libs}}}
The first time, I expect: (and what happens is)
{{{
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ia32-libs is already the newest version.
ia32-libs set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
}}}

I run {{{sudo apt-get --simulate install ia32-libs}}} a second time and I expect:
{{{
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ia32-libs is already the newest version.
ia32-libs set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
}}}
I expect it to say 'set to manually installed' again, since it should not have changed anything the first time.

What actually happens the second time:
{{{
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ia32-libs is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
}}}
It does not say 'set to manually installed' again, since the first time around it did actually make changes.

I used sudo aptitude to mark ia32-libs as auto again so I could verify this bug exists.
I also tried alternate syntax (bug also occurs) {{{sudo apt-get install --simulate ia32-libs}}}

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Dependencies:
 libgcc1 1:4.3.3-5ubuntu4
 gcc-4.3-base 4.3.3-5ubuntu4
 libstdc++6 4.3.3-5ubuntu4
 findutils 4.4.0-2ubuntu4
 libc6 2.9-4ubuntu6
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: apt 0.7.20.2ubuntu6
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: apt
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-15-generic x86_64

[Torsten Spindler (tspindler)]

I just tried to reproduce your problem on Natty and it is solved there:

spindler@meteor:~$ sudo apt-mark markauto ia32-libs
spindler@meteor:~$ sudo apt-get --simulate install ia32-libs
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ia32-libs is already the newest version.
ia32-libs set to manually installed.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  python-keyring
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
spindler@meteor:~$ sudo apt-get --simulate install ia32-libs
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ia32-libs is already the newest version.
ia32-libs set to manually installed.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  python-keyring
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
spindler@meteor:~$