Depends on libapache2-mod-php5. This is a bug, as I would like to run PHP5 through apache worker using FCGI, which would run cacti just fine.

[Pieter Steyn]

Binary package hint: cacti

Cacti should not depend on libapache2-mod-php5.

root@news:~# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 9.10
Release: 9.10

I prefer to use apache2-mpm-worker along with libapache2-mod-fcgid to run my PHP sites. This combination will run Cacti perfectly fine, but whenever I want to install it I get prompted that Cacti is also going to be removed as it depends on libapache2-mod-php5.

root@news:~# aptitude install libapache2-mod-fcgid apache2-mpm-worker
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following packages are BROKEN:
  libapache2-mod-php5
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  apache2-mpm-worker libapache2-mod-fcgid
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  apache2-mpm-prefork{a}
0 packages upgraded, 2 newly installed, 1 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 2,314B/42.1kB of archives. After unpacking 209kB will be used.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  libapache2-mod-php5: Depends: apache2-mpm-prefork (> 2.0.52) but it is not installable or
                                apache2-mpm-itk but it is not installable
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Remove the following packages:
libapache2-mod-php5

Install the following packages:
php5 [5.2.10.dfsg.1-2ubuntu6.4 (karmic-updates, karmic-security)]

Score is 110

Then, if I want to remove libapache2-mod-php5, I get:

root@news:~# apt-get remove libapache2-mod-php5
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  dbconfig-common php5-snmp libphp-adodb
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  cacti cacti-spine libapache2-mod-php5
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
After this operation, 11.9MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.

I understand this is a very tricky bug, as Cacti must depend on some sort of php5/apache being installed.

In the mean time I will just use Cacti from sources instead of the package.

Hope this is enough info.

[Nicholas Wiersma (nrwiersma)]

Cacti should not depend on Apache at all. There are a multitude of web servers available, and used by people. I am currently running nginx, and don't need Apache installed to run Cacti. All this is doing is cluttering the system with things that might not be needed.

[Mahyuddin Susanto (udienz)]

I suggest to give alternative to spawn-fcgi, php5-cgi, libapache2-mod-fcgid, see below. What your opinion?

$ diff -Nurp control control.after
--- control 2011-12-31 03:32:25.000000000 +0700
+++ control.after 2011-12-31 10:54:32.917899267 +0700
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Package: cacti
 Architecture: all
 Depends: apache2 | apache | apache-ssl | apache-perl | httpd,
          dbconfig-common (>= 1.8.8),
- libapache2-mod-php5 | php5,
+ libapache2-mod-php5 | php5-cgi | spawn-fcgi | libapache2-mod-fcgid,
          libphp-adodb (>= 4.50-1),
          php5-cli,
          php5-mysql,

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package cacti - 0.8.7i-2ubuntu1

---------------
cacti (0.8.7i-2ubuntu1) precise; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/01_config.php.patch: Backports from Debian git repos to
    fix while upgrade because /etc/cacti/debian.php has been rewrite.
    (Closes: #654352)
  * debian/control:
    - Move apache2 to Recommends to allow cacti running to other webserver,
      and fcgi stuff to Depends. (LP: #544828)
    - Remove absolute packages: apache, apache-ssl, apache-perl
 -- Mahyuddin Susanto <email address hidden> Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:25:27 +0700

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

I don't believe the original report was a bug, but an human error. The report said:

"""
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Remove the following packages:
libapache2-mod-php5

Install the following packages:
php5
"""

But the reporter did: "apt-get remove libapache2-mod-php5".

Cacti depends on some php(5) implementation, so that should be present. I believe the original problem could have been fixed by:
apt-get install php5-cgi php5 # Make sure an alternative is available for cacti