[impact] Currently there are different versions of awk installed on a Ubuntu system based on the flavor the user is running. For ubuntu server images, the awk interpreter being used is gawk (GNU awk) while on desktop images, mawk is the default interpreter installed. ppa-purge on ubuntu versions that use the deb822 source format (Noble and Mantic) uses the -i option in awk which is only available in gawk and is missing in mawk. This results in the following error: awk: not an option: -i A proposed fix would be to add gawk as a dependency to ppa-purge. [Reproducer] 1- install a desktop version of Noble or Mantic. In this case Noble is used as an example 2- add a ppa: $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers 3- pgrade to the version of the packages included in the ppa: $ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade 4- install ppa-purge: $ sudo apt install ppa-purge 5- ppa-purge version: $ dpkg -l| grep ppa-purge ii ppa-purge 0.2.8+bzr63-0ubuntu2 6- run ppa-purge: $ sudo ppa-purge ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers 7- you will see the following output with an awk related failure (only sample of the output is how below): cs-drivers Updating packages lists Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of apt-news.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units. Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of esm-cache.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units. W: https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/oibaf/graphics-drivers/ubuntu/dists/noble/InRelease: Signature by key 5ABCE68FF4633EA42E219156957D2708A03A4626 uses weak algorithm (rsa1024) PPA to be removed: oibaf graphics-drivers Package revert list generated: libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64/noble libdrm-common/noble libdrm-intel1:amd64/noble libdrm-nouveau2:amd64/noble libdrm-radeon1:amd64/noble libdrm2:amd64/noble libegl-mesa0:amd64/noble libgbm1:amd64/noble libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64/noble libglapi-mesa:amd64/noble libglx-mesa0:amd64/noble libxatracker2:amd64/noble mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64/noble awk: not an option: -i Updating packages lists ... ... ... 8- this results in the packages not being downgraded since the .sources file was not disabled. [cause] This was caused in a patch that tried to fix LP:2036761 Although this patch was successful in fixing Ubuntu server installs, it does not work for Ubuntu desktop installs where gawk is not installed by default. [workaround] Manually install gawk: $ sudo apt install gawk [solution] I have written a patch that adds gawk as a dependency for ppa-purge. Below is the test plan showing the fix [Test Plan] 1- Install the new ppa-purge version: ghadi@ghadi-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~/Desktop$ sudo apt install ./ppa-purge_0.2.8+bzr63-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done Note, selecting 'ppa-purge' instead of './ppa-purge_0.2.8+bzr63-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb' The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required: libllvm17t64 Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it. The following additional packages will be installed: gawk libsigsegv2 Suggested packages: gawk-doc aptitude The following NEW packages will be installed: gawk libsigsegv2 The following packages will be upgraded: ppa-purge 1 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 478 kB/484 kB of archives. After this operation, 1,830 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] We can see that gawk is being pulled in as a dependency 2- verify the ppa-purge verison: ghadi@ghadi-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~/Desktop$ dpkg -l | grep ppa-purge ii ppa-purge 0.2.8+bzr63-0ubuntu2.1 3- verify that gawk is also installed: dpkg -l | grep gawkii gawk 1:5.2.1-2build3 4- run ppa-purge again on the ppa installed in the [reproducer] section: ghadi@ghadi-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~/Desktop$ sudo ppa-purge ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers Updating packages lists Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of apt-news.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units. Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of esm-cache.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units. W: https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/oibaf/graphics-drivers/ubuntu/dists/noble/InRelease: Signature by key 5ABCE68FF4633EA42E219156957D2708A03A4626 uses weak algorithm (rsa1024) PPA to be removed: oibaf graphics-drivers Package revert list generated: libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64/noble libdrm-common/noble libdrm-intel1:amd64/noble libdrm-nouveau2:amd64/noble libdrm-radeon1:amd64/noble libdrm2:amd64/noble libegl-mesa0:amd64/noble libgbm1:amd64/noble libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64/noble libglapi-mesa:amd64/noble libglx-mesa0:amd64/noble libxatracker2:amd64/noble mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64/noble Updating packages lists Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of apt-news.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units. Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of esm-cache.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units. Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done Selected version '2.4.120-2' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libdrm-amdgpu1' Selected version '2.4.120-2' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [all]) for 'libdrm-common' Selected version '2.4.120-2' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libdrm-intel1' Selected version '2.4.120-2' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libdrm-nouveau2' Selected version '2.4.120-2' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libdrm-radeon1' Selected version '2.4.120-2' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libdrm2' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libegl-mesa0' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libgbm1' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libgl1-mesa-dri' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libglapi-mesa' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libglx-mesa0' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'libxatracker2' Selected version '24.0.3-1ubuntu4' (Ubuntu:24.04/noble [amd64]) for 'mesa-vulkan-drivers' The following packages will be DOWNGRADED: libdrm-amdgpu1 libdrm-common libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libdrm2 libegl-mesa0 libgbm1 libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libglx-mesa0 libxatracker2 mesa-vulkan-drivers 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 13 downgraded, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded. Need to get 22.6 MB of archives. After this operation, 34.8 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Get:1 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libdrm2 amd64 2.4.120-2 [40.4 kB] Get:2 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libdrm-common all 2.4.120-2 [7,998 B] Get:3 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libdrm-amdgpu1 amd64 2.4.120-2 [20.4 kB] Get:4 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libdrm-intel1 amd64 2.4.120-2 [63.8 kB] Get:5 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libdrm-nouveau2 amd64 2.4.120-2 [17.6 kB] Get:6 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libdrm-radeon1 amd64 2.4.120-2 [20.7 kB] Get:7 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libegl-mesa0 amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [115 kB] Get:8 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libgbm1 amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [42.3 kB] Get:9 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libgl1-mesa-dri amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [8,942 kB] Get:10 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libglx-mesa0 amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [154 kB] Get:11 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libglapi-mesa amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [40.8 kB] Get:12 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 libxatracker2 amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [2,134 kB] Get:13 http://lb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 mesa-vulkan-drivers amd64 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 [11.0 MB] Fetched 22.6 MB in 9s (2,514 kB/s) dpkg: warning: downgrading libdrm2:amd64 from 2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n to 2.4.120-2 (Reading database ... 147872 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../00-libdrm2_2.4.120-2_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.120-2) over (2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libdrm-common from 2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n to 2.4.120-2 Preparing to unpack .../01-libdrm-common_2.4.120-2_all.deb ... Unpacking libdrm-common (2.4.120-2) over (2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64 from 2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n to 2.4.120-2 Preparing to unpack .../02-libdrm-amdgpu1_2.4.120-2_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64 (2.4.120-2) over (2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libdrm-intel1:amd64 from 2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n to 2.4.120-2 Preparing to unpack .../03-libdrm-intel1_2.4.120-2_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libdrm-intel1:amd64 (2.4.120-2) over (2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libdrm-nouveau2:amd64 from 2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n to 2.4.120-2 Preparing to unpack .../04-libdrm-nouveau2_2.4.120-2_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libdrm-nouveau2:amd64 (2.4.120-2) over (2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libdrm-radeon1:amd64 from 2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n to 2.4.120-2 Preparing to unpack .../05-libdrm-radeon1_2.4.120-2_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libdrm-radeon1:amd64 (2.4.120-2) over (2.4.120+git2404040500.f94a79~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libegl-mesa0:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../06-libegl-mesa0_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libegl-mesa0:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libgbm1:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../07-libgbm1_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libgbm1:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../08-libgl1-mesa-dri_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libglx-mesa0:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../09-libglx-mesa0_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libglx-mesa0:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libglapi-mesa:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../10-libglapi-mesa_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libglapi-mesa:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading libxatracker2:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../11-libxatracker2_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libxatracker2:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... dpkg: warning: downgrading mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64 from 24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n to 24.0.3-1ubuntu4 Preparing to unpack .../12-mesa-vulkan-drivers_24.0.3-1ubuntu4_amd64.deb ... Unpacking mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) over (24.1~git2404060600.acbf3a~oibaf~n) ... Setting up libglapi-mesa:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Setting up libdrm-common (2.4.120-2) ... Setting up libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.120-2) ... Setting up libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64 (2.4.120-2) ... Setting up mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Setting up libdrm-nouveau2:amd64 (2.4.120-2) ... Setting up libgbm1:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Setting up libdrm-radeon1:amd64 (2.4.120-2) ... Setting up libdrm-intel1:amd64 (2.4.120-2) ... Setting up libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Setting up libxatracker2:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Setting up libegl-mesa0:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Setting up libglx-mesa0:amd64 (24.0.3-1ubuntu4) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.39-0ubuntu8) ... PPA purged successfully 5- we can see that packages were successfully reverted. [Where problems could occur] - newer versions of gawk could deprecate the -i option causing the issue to resurface again - bugs in gawk that affect the -i option could also cause ppa-purge to fail.