aptitude does not automatically remove unused packages

[hdante]

In Ubuntu 8.10, if I use aptitude to install "epiphany-webkit", then use aptitude to remove "epiphany-webkit", its dependency packages, like epiphany-browser-data and libwebkit, are not automatically removed.

Steps to reproduce
1. sudo aptitude
2. select epiphany-webkit
3. install
4. sudo aptitude
5. deselect epiphany-webkit
6. deselect epiphany-browser
7. error: dependency packages are not automatically removed

Automatic dependency handling is the sole reason anyone would use aptitude in Ubuntu.

[hdante (hdante)]

Same bug in gcc-3.4. Install gcc-3.4, remove it and dependencies are not removed.

[Daniel Queirolo (danf-1979)]

hdante, thanks for contributing. I can confirm this bug in Jaunty.

~$ apt-cache policy aptitude
aptitude:
  Installed: 0.4.11.10-1lenny1.1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.4.11.10-1lenny1.1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.4.11.10-1lenny1.1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Steps to reproduce:

1) $ sudo aptitude install gcc-3.4
results in:
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cpp-3.4{a} gcc-3.4 gcc-3.4-base{a}

2) $ sudo aptitude purge gcc-3.4
results in:
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gcc-3.4{p}

3) apt-get autoremove
results in:
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  gcc-3.4-base cpp-3.4

[Onno Benschop (onno-itmaze)]

With libvirt-bin it automatically installs netcat-openbsd dnsmasq-base, but when I run aptitude purge, it leaves netcat-openbsd behind.

[Rüdiger Kupper (ruediger.kupper)]

For me, auto-removal of dependencies works with your examples (epiphany-webkit and gcc-?.??). However, I experience the problem you describe with the *buntu-desktop meta-packages. Is there something special about the dependencies of these packages?

Steps to reproduce:

1) sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop
2) sudo aptitude remove ubuntu-desktop

Only the meta-package itself is removed, not its dependencies.
The same happens with meta-package xubuntu-desktop or lubuntu-desktop.
That's strange, since installing (and uninstalling) the *buntu-desktop-packages is one of aptitude's use-cases that is explicitely mentioned on several sites.

[Philip Muškovac (yofel)]

@Rüdiger: That is intentional and is set in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove which belongs to apt.

[...]
  Never-MarkAuto-Sections
  {
        "metapackages";
        "restricted/metapackages";
        "universe/metapackages";
        "multiverse/metapackages";
        "oldlibs";
        "restricted/oldlibs";
        "universe/oldlibs";
        "multiverse/oldlibs";

  };

[Rüdiger Kupper (ruediger.kupper)]

Thanks, Phlip! That clears things up. But why is this information so hard to find? Shouldn't the manpage of aptitude or apt-get mention that meta-packages are handled differently? You wouldn't expect this.

[Thierry Machet (thierry-machet)]

Dear all,

I observed the same problem. Another example with some digging:

sudo aptitude install awesome
  Les NOUVEAUX paquets suivants vont être installés :
   awesome feh{a} giblib1{a} libev4{a} libid3tag0{a} libimlib2{a}
   libjpeg-progs{a} libjpeg-turbo-progs{a} libxcb-icccm4{a} libxcb-image0{a}
   libxcb-keysyms1{a} libxcb-randr0{a} libxcb-xinerama0{a} libxcb-xtest0{a}
   libxdg-basedir1{a} menu{a} rlwrap{a}
   0 paquets mis à jour, 17 nouvellement installés, 0 à enlever et 11 non mis à jour.

sudo aptitude remove awesome
        Les paquets suivants seront ENLEVÉS :
       awesome
       0 paquets mis à jour, 0 nouvellement installés, 1 à enlever et 11 non mis à jour.

It looks like the packages are not marked Auto:
            aptitude show giblib1
                Paquet : giblib1
                État: installé
               Automatiquement installé: non

But marking as auto does not solve:
        sudo aptitude markauto feh giblib1 libev4 libid3tag0 libimlib2 libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-xtest0 libxdg-basedir1 menu rlwrap</command></para>

 aptitude show giblib1
            Paquet : giblib1
           État: installé
           Automatiquement installé: oui

         sudo aptitude remove awesome -s
         Les paquets suivants seront ENLEVÉS :
                     awesome
                     0 paquets mis à jour, 0 nouvellement installés, 1 à enlever et 11 non mis à jour.

        And apt-get is not working better even if packages are marked auto:
        sudo apt-get autoremove awesome -s
       Les paquets suivants seront ENLEVÉS :
                    awesome
                    0 mis à jour, 0 nouvellement installés, 1 à enlever et 11 non mis à jour

Only way remove manually
        sudo aptitude remove awesome feh giblib1 libev4 libid3tag0 libimlib2 libjpeg-progs libjpeg-turbo-progs libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-xtest0 libxdg-basedir1 menu rlwrap

Versions:
         Ubuntu 13.04
         aptitude version 0.6.8.1

Regards

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

Is this still an issue in focal or later?

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

Upstream report closed in 2015 as issue fixed in version 0.7.3-1
No reply to comment #8 after almost a year
All currently supported releases are 0.8.x so closing as fixed