apt cann't resolve some packages' dependence!

[zhangning]

Binary package hint: apt

some packages' dependence apt can't resolve.

examples: mpb mpb-doc mpb-mpi tp-smapi-source tpfan-admin (ppa) (a lot of package i don't list)

i install mpb's dependences manually, but apt still report other dependence need to install.

the first time i find mpb's dependence error, i think this may this package maintainer's fault.

but after i find so many packages dependence error, i find it is apt's fault.

------

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: apt 0.7.25.3ubuntu7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Apr 30 18:08:23 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=zh_CN:zh
 LANG=zh_CN.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: apt

[Torsten Spindler (tspindler)]

Thanks for taking the time to report a bug. I was not able to reproduce your problem. Maybe your local apt cache is not proper, please try to do a
$ sudo apt-get clean
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install mbp

If this does not help, please add your /etc/apt/sources.list to the bug report.

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

no help.
-----------------------------------
when i want install mpb, i get :

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  cpp-4.1 fftw2 g++-4.1 gcc-4.1 gcc-4.1-base guile-1.8 guile-1.8-dev
  guile-1.8-libs h5utils hdf5-tools libatlas3gf-base libctl-dev libctl-doc
  libctl3 libgfortran3 libgmp3-dev libgmpxx4ldbl libhdf4-0
  libhdf5-serial-1.8.4 libmatheval1 libmpich1.0gf libncurses5-dev
  libreadline6-dev libstdc++6-4.1-dev mpb-doc
Suggested packages:
  gcc-4.1-locales fftw-dev mpich-bin g++-4.1-multilib gcc-4.1-doc
  gcc-4.1-multilib libmudflap0-dev guile-1.8-doc libatlas3gf-3dnow
  libatlas3gf-sse libatlas3gf-sse2 libblas3gf liblapack3gf libgmp3-doc
  libmpfr-dev libhdf4-doc libhdf4-dev hdf4-tools libstdc++6-4.1-doc
Recommended packages:
  libstdc++-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cpp-4.1 fftw2 g++-4.1 gcc-4.1 gcc-4.1-base guile-1.8 guile-1.8-dev
  guile-1.8-libs h5utils hdf5-tools libatlas3gf-base libctl-dev libctl-doc
  libctl3 libgfortran3 libgmp3-dev libgmpxx4ldbl libhdf4-0
  libhdf5-serial-1.8.4 libmatheval1 libmpich1.0gf libncurses5-dev
  libreadline6-dev libstdc++6-4.1-dev mpb mpb-doc
0 upgraded, 26 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 20.3MB of archives.
After this operation, 63.6MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
-------------------
when i want install tp-smapi-source, i get
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  build-essential cvs debhelper dpkg-dev g++ g++-4.4 gettext html2text
  intltool-debian libmail-sendmail-perl libstdc++6-4.4-dev
  libsys-hostname-long-perl module-assistant po-debconf xz-utils
Suggested packages:
  dh-make debian-keyring debian-maintainers g++-multilib g++-4.4-multilib
  gcc-4.4-doc libstdc++6-4.4-dbg gettext-doc libstdc++6-4.4-doc
  libmail-box-perl sysfsutils
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  build-essential cvs debhelper dpkg-dev g++ g++-4.4 gettext html2text
  intltool-debian libmail-sendmail-perl libstdc++6-4.4-dev
  libsys-hostname-long-perl module-assistant po-debconf tp-smapi-source
  xz-utils
0 upgraded, 16 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 11.8MB of archives.
After this operation, 38.2MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
-----------

I will append packages' attributions displayed by synaptic

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

after you see these two screen shot, you know the difference.

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

So i can't tell if it is fault of apt or synaptic or these package maintainer.

But one thing is sure: the difference!

[Torsten Spindler (tspindler)]

Thanks for the additional information! What package fails to install exactly?

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

I can't provide you a list of packages fail to install.

because i can remember these packages dependence in karmic, i can feel abnormal.

that means that the if i don't use the package in karmic or before, I can't feel it abnormal.

i raise a survey in forum.ubunu.org.cn: any other package has dependence error.

but no response right now.

[Torsten Spindler (tspindler)]

Can you try using a different mirror? Rationale behind is that the
mirror you are using might be incomplete and hence the package
dependencies cannot be resolved completely.

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

yes. i switch software source to official, still no help.

-------
a guy in forum.ubuntu.org.cn said "he tries to install xmlto, but apt-get tells him to install more than 447M new packages."

and i test it, and find all texlive packages is going to install.

-----------
link: http://forum.ubuntu.org.cn/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=242957&p=1854578#p1854578

if you know Chinese.

----------
So do you think if i should report the bug as xmlto's bug, mpb's bug, or other package's bug which has installation trouble.

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

i write a guide how to find a package have dependence error. this may be help:

if you want to install xxxx, or try to find xxxx package have dependence error.
1 run synaptic,
2 mark all xxxx's dependences listed by synaptic. (properties-->>dependence)
3 mark xxxx

now, when you mark xxxx, synaptic still asks you to mark other packages. then package xxxx has dependence error.

[Torsten Spindler (tspindler)]

On Fri, 2010-05-07 at 03:05 +0000, zhangning wrote:
> yes. i switch software source to official, still no help.
>
> -------
> a guy in forum.ubuntu.org.cn said "he tries to install xmlto, but apt-get tells him to install more than 447M new packages."
>
> and i test it, and find all texlive packages is going to install.

I believe this is the intended behaviour, not a bug at all. The
dependencies do include the texlive package, so overall installing the
package will lead to quite a huge download.

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

OK, that's all.

this "bug" can't affect me any more.

[Victor Vargas (kamus)]

@zhangning, any news about this issue?

[zhangning (zhangn1985-gmail)]

No.
I'm not using Ubuntu now, because of this issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for apt (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]