mysql-client -depending packages should depend on mysql-client | virtual-mysql-client instead

[Arnaud Koëbel]

mysql-client-5.6 (version 5.6.16-1~exp1) only provides the package virtual-mysql-client while the 5.5 version provided mysql-client and virtual-mysql-client.

As a result, other packages like rsyslog-mysql which use the mysql client libraries provided by the mysql-client metapackage will uninstall mysql-client-5.6 and overwrite it with mysql-client-5.5.

I think the mysql-client-5.6 should provide the same metapackages the older 5.5 version did.

[James Page (james-page)]

The intent is that packages should depend in mysql-client | virtual-mysql-client - mysql-client being the preferred default and other implementations providing "virtual-mysql-client" so being drop in replacements.

However this change is quite huge and did not land in 14.04.

[Robie Basak (racb)]

I count 46 reverse depends on 17 reverse recommends that will need to be updated then? Based on "reverse-depends" so on Ubuntu. Do need to mass file a bug in Debian for this?

Reverse depends:

* audiolink
* auth2db-common
* automysqlbackup
* bacula-director-mysql
* beancounter
* biomaj
* cacti
* cqrlog [amd64 armhf i386 powerpc]
* dotclear
* dpm-name-server-mysql
* dpm-server-mysql
* dpsyco-mysql
* drupal7
* frontaccounting
* jffnms
* kamailio-mysql-modules [amd64 armhf i386 powerpc ppc64el]
* lcmaps-plugins-jobrep-admin
* lfc-server-mysql
* libdspam7-drv-mysql
* moodle
* movabletype-opensource
* mysql-testsuite-5.5
* mythexport
* mythimport
* mythtv-common [amd64 arm64 armhf i386 powerpc]
* mythtv-database
* ndoutils-nagios3-mysql
* netmrg
* ocsinventory-reports
* opendnssec-enforcer-mysql
* percona-xtrabackup-test
* phpbb3
* phpgacl
* piwi
* postfix-cluebringer-mysql
* postfixadmin
* redmine-mysql
* roundcube-mysql
* rt4-db-mysql
* scuttle
* semanticscuttle
* spotweb
* typo3-dummy
* webgui
* wordpress
* zoneminder

Reverse recommends:

* bley
* dolibarr
* glpi
* icinga-idoutils
* icinga-web
* ilohamail
* lemonpos
* oar-server-mysql
* pdns-backend-mysql
* phpmyadmin
* prelude-manager [amd64 armhf i386 powerpc]
* rsyslog-mysql
* tango-db
* torrentflux
* ukolovnik
* yubikey-ksm
* yubikey-val

[Arnaud Koëbel (arnaud-koebel)]

That's exactly why I submitted a question first : because I suspected that change in dependencies was there for a reason.

If I understand the problem correctly, it's not an issue of the mysql5.6 packages, but of all the others and the same problem will occur with the mariadb packages until all dependent packages are corrected to include both dependencies?

Right now, it makes it impossible to use mysql5.6/mariadb as replacements to mysql5.5 in Ubuntu 14.04.

I've corrected the mysql5.6 source package and recompiled it on my side, so it's not a problem anymore, but I suspect other users will find this troublesome.

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

The Debian MySQL team decision is documented at https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/MySQL/virtual-mysql-server

The mariadb-5.5 package in Trusty and Utopic already follows this policy.