"Force version" doesn't seem to know what it is doing

[Ken Sharp]

Thanks to Bug 878235 I am trying to revert all packages upgraded in a recent "apt-get upgrade". However, when selecting "Force version" for the package libkrb5-3, Synaptic wants to remove around 50 unrelated packages, and install another 50 unrelated packages. What on Earth for?

I successfully managed to downgrade xserver-xorg-core and xserver-common without any of this nonsense.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: synaptic 0.75.1ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.50-generic 2.6.38.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx wl
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Oct 19 16:02:32 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/sbin/synaptic
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: synaptic
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

From bug 878235, I am guessing that libkrb5-3 is currently at 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2 and you want to downgrade it to 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1.

Which specific packages (and versions of them) does Synaptic say it has to remove, and which does it say it has to install, to perform that operation?

Unless this is a bug in Synaptic itself, you might be able to provide this information a bit more easily by simulating the downgrade using apt-get in the Terminal. If you wish to do that, then open a Terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run this command:

sudo apt-get update; apt-get -s install libkrb5-3=1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1

Then select all the text in the Terminal (Edit > Select All), copy it to the clipboard (Edit > Copy), and paste it here.

Please also let us know why you are trying to downgrade libkrb5-3 (since that package is not likely to be related to the video problems you described in bug 878235).

Since the above requested information would be necessary before a developer could being work on this bug (or even before knowing that this *is* a bug), I am marking this bug Incomplete. When providing this information, please feel free to change this bug's status back to New.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

Correction: "Since the above requested information would be necessary before a developer could BEGIN work on this bug..."

[Ken Sharp (kennybobs)]

This update:

Start-Date: 2011-10-19 14:35:26
Upgrade: libkrb5-3:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), libk5crypto3:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), wine1.3:amd64 (1.3.29-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1, 1.3.30-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1), libimobiledevice2:amd64 (1.1.0-3, 1.1.0-3ubuntu1), xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (1.10.1-1ubuntu1.2, 1.10.1-1ubuntu1.3), xserver-common:amd64 (1.10.1-1ubuntu1.2, 1.10.1-1ubuntu1.3), wine1.3-dbg:amd64 (1.3.29-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1, 1.3.30-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1), wine1.3-dev:amd64 (1.3.29-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1, 1.3.30-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1), libkrb5-dev:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), libgssrpc4:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), xserver-xorg-video-intel:amd64 (2.14.0-4ubuntu7.1, 2.14.0-4ubuntu7.2), libkrb5support0:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), libdvdread4:amd64 (4.1.3-10ubuntu3, 4.1.3-10ubuntu3.1), libkadm5clnt-mit7:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), libkadm5srv-mit7:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), libkdb5-4:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), krb5-multidev:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), libgssapi-krb5-2:amd64 (1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.1, 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2), ttf-symbol-replacement-wine1.3:amd64 (1.3.29-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1, 1.3.30-0ubuntu1~ppa1~natty1)
End-Date: 2011-10-19 14:36:40

has rendered my system useless. I have successfully downgraded all the non-kerberos packages, but the kerberos ones refuse to do anything sensible. libkrb5-3 for example cannot be automatically reverted to the previous version because it is no longer available, and must be reverted to 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2, but:

$ sudo apt-get -s install libkrb5-3=1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies.
 libaccess-bridge-java : Depends: default-jre but it is not going to be installed or
                                  openjdk-6-jre but it is not going to be installed or
                                  sun-java6-jre but it is not going to be installed
                         Recommends: libaccess-bridge-java-jni but it is not going to be installed
 libkrb5-3 : Depends: libkrb5support0 (= 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2) but 1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2.2 is to be installed
 python-wxversion : Depends: python-wxgtk2.8 (>= 2.8.6.1-0ubuntu2) but it is not going to be installed or
                             python-wxgtk2.6 (>= 2.6.3.2.2-1ubuntu2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Broken packages

These packages were never installed, so why do they need to be installed now?

$ sudo apt-get -s install libkrb5-3=1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2 libkrb5support0=1.8.3+dfsg-5ubuntu2
appeases one complainer but not the others.

[Ken Sharp (kennybobs)]

Too late to care about this at all. Ignored.