apt-get autoremove removes required packages

[Dennis Kaarsemaker]

Binary package hint: apt

When installing syslog-ng, apt removes syslog and ubuntu-minimal. A subsequent apt-get autoremove tries to remove upstart, which has priority required. I believe apt-get autoremove should not by default autoremove required packages.

[John Kozyrakis (ikoz)]

I confirm this, it removed upstart in my system and had to chroot it using live cd to install it again.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Thanks for your bugreport.

This is a bug in apt and will be fixed. There may also be a bug in the way we installed the ubuntu-minimal task.

Is this edgy or feisty? Was it a fresh install or a upgrade from a previous release.

Thanks,
 Michael

[Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis)]

> Is this edgy or feisty? Was it a fresh install or a upgrade from a
> previous release.

In my case edgy, upgrded from a very fresh dapper (didn't have a dapper
CD nearby when I needed to install).

[Niko Rosvall (niko-rosvall)]

I have fresh install edgy amd64.

I removed openoffice, so metapackage ubuntu-desktop was removed too. After that apt-get autoremove suggest that gedit, gnome-games, gnome-themes, tangerine-icon-theme and few other packages are auto-removable... I think apt-get autoremove should not work like that...

[Niko Rosvall (niko-rosvall)]

I just noticed that if I reinstall those packages marked autoremovable, then, after reinstall apt no longer marks them auto removable. I just think that i should not mark those kind of packages at the first place...

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

Moving milestone forward; herd 2 is out

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

Michael, please tend to this; it's been around for a while and is milestoned as important to get fixed for feisty.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Hey Tollef, thanks for your comment.

Apt will not remove "required" packages anymore since mid Dec. I kept the bug open because I want to understand why those got marked auto-installed in the first-place.

Cheers,
 Michael

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

Moving milestone forward; herd 5 is out.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

The feisty version of apt will not touch any package with priority "required".

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

I'm reopening this bug as it is reproducible in Jaunty.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Sorry forgot output:

gnomefreak@Development:~$ sudo apt-get install bookmark-merge epiphany-webkit gxineplugin xine-plugin nautilus-cd-burner nautilus-data nautilus-gksu nautilus-sendto gnome-photo-printer gnome-themes-extras nautilus-actions nautilus-clamscan nautilus-open-terminal nautilus-script-audio-convert nautilus-wallpaper nautilus-actions nautilus-script-manager python-nautilus mozplugger faac faad flac
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
bookmark-merge is already the newest version.
gxineplugin is already the newest version.
xine-plugin is already the newest version.
nautilus-cd-burner is already the newest version.
nautilus-data is already the newest version.
nautilus-gksu is already the newest version.
nautilus-sendto is already the newest version.
gnome-themes-extras is already the newest version.
nautilus-actions is already the newest version.
nautilus-wallpaper is already the newest version.
nautilus-actions is already the newest version.
nautilus-script-manager is already the newest version.
nautilus-script-manager set to manually installed.
python-nautilus is already the newest version.
python-nautilus set to manually installed.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  desktop-base libgtk2.0-0-dbg planner evolution-data-server-dbg gthumb
  rhythmbox-dbg gnome-desktop-environment sharutils
  gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-dbg gnome-games-extra-data libatk1.0-dbg
  python-renderpm libgsf-1-114-dbg gnome-dbg cheese nvidia-settings evince-dbg
  libots0 libpango1.0-0-dbg gnome-network-admin hardinfo libgnomedb3-common
  libgnomedb3-4 libgnomevfs2-0-dbg gthumb-data gparted gnome-office
  evolution-dbg libaiksaurusgtk-1.2-0c2a abiword-common abiword
  abiword-plugin-mathview latex-xft-fonts libatspi-dbg libaiksaurus-1.2-0c2a
  python-lxml swfdec-gnome python-reportlab-accel libpulse-mainloop-glib0
  gnumeric-common libxft2-dbg libfontconfig1-dbg dasher libloudmouth1-0
  link-grammar-dictionaries-en p7zip libgoffice-dbg libgoffice-0-6-common
  libgsf-gnome-1-114-dbg abiword-help arj gnome-volume-manager libgda3-sqlite
  libt1-5 gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-dbg libaiksaurus-1.2-data
  python-4suite-doc dasher-data gstreamer0.10-plugins-good-dbg gok libgdome2-0
  dkms abiword-plugin-grammar libgnomedb3-bin libloudmouth1-0-dbg libwmf-bin
  libxml2-dbg gnome-panel-dbg libswfdec-0.8-0 libgnomedb3-4-dbg libgoffice-0-6
  libnss3-1d-dbg python-uniconvertor nautilus-dbg libgtkhtml3.14-dbg liferea
  libgdome2-cpp-smart0c2a swfdec-mozilla gnome-core gnome-applets-dbg
  liboobs-1-4-dbg python-4suite-xml gnumeric libnspr4-0d-dbg
  epiphany-browser-dbg libgda3-3-dbg liblink-grammar4 libgtkmathview0c2a
  libgnomeui-0-dbg gnome-accessibility libglib2.0-0-dbg
  nvidia-173-kernel-source totem-dbg perlmagick inkscape python-reportlab
  xulrunner-1.9.2-dev libgail-gnome-dbg gimp-dbg serpentine
  libgstreamer0.10-0-dbg sound-juicer gnome-vfs-obexftp
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  clamav clamav-base clamav-freshclam libclamav5 libmp4v2-0 python-clamav
Suggested packages:
  unrar lha clamav-docs
The fol...

[David Wynn (wynn-david)]

No, it's not. Look at your output from Show. "Priority:" shows as Optional. Gnome-core is not a "Priority: Required" package. Its a meta-package that can be used to bring in one group's (Gnome developers? Debian?) idea of a base set of Gnome packages, but it is not essential. The Ubuntu folks have developed their own idea of what should be included as part of a Gnome system, and these would be the "Depends" portion of ubuntu-desktop. If you have ubuntu-minimal, ubuntu-standard, and ubuntu-desktop installed, you have everything you need for a functional Gnome desktop, without installing gnome-core.

I'm going to assume this was fixed since the Feisty era then, and reclose this bug.

[marco oliva (marcooliva-deactivatedaccount1)]

I have the same problem, in Ubuntu Hardy.

[RussianNeuroMancer (russianneuromancer)]

Still issue in Lucid?

[Robbie Williamson (robbiew)]

Marking this as "Won't Fix" to keep folks from re-opening. The original problem is FIXRELEASED. Please open a new bug if you believe the issue still exists in a SUPPORTED release.