[edgy] glibc-doc-reference is uninstallable

[packet]

Binary package hint: glibc-doc-reference

1. Install package glibc-doc.
2. Install package glibc-doc-reference
3. There is no step three, it fails with:

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/glibc-doc-reference_2.3.6-1_all.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite `/usr/share/doc-base/glibc-manual', which is also in package glibc-doc
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/glibc-doc-reference_2.3.6-1_all.deb

Should be simple to fix. But I am asking myself why the heck it happens so often. It should be rather trivial to have a program check the whole archive if all packages whose files conflict with the files of other packages do declare a conflict with these other packages in the control file. If that is not the case, either the control file is wrong or the package contents are wrong. The data needed for this tool is already gathered by packages.ubuntu.com "Search the contents of packages". This check should be made _before_ inclusion of a new package upload.

[Petr Tomeš (ptomes)]

I can't confirm this bug, everything works well here. See attached output of GNOME Terminal.

[packet (packet)]

You need to install both glibc-doc and glibc-doc-reference, as glibc-doc-reference tries to overwrite the file /usr/share/doc-base/glibc-manual which is installed by glibc-doc. So whichever comes first will install without error, breaking installation of the other package. It's probably not really a bug in glibc-doc-reference, but a bug in glibc-doc _and_ glibc-doc-reference.

[c7d2f5c8667d26fffd5e7772d632c76d (c7d2f5c8667d26fffd5e7772d632c76d-deactivatedaccount)]

I can confirm this bug.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Marking as confirmed. you can run "sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/glibc-doc-reference_2.3.6-1_all.deb" but it is not recommended as it may overwrite something sensitive and can leave something not working.

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

glibc-doc-reference isn't part of Ubuntu. When i tried to install it in Hardy, it installed glibc-doc instead. Can this bug be closed?

[Reuben Thomas (rrt)]

This bug can be closed; glibc-doc provides and replaces glibc-doc-reference currently.

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

glibc-doc and glibc-doc-reference can be co-installed fine now, closing this ancient bug.