Doesn't show "Reinstall" in multiarch

[Andrea Mazzoleni]

i386 packages on an x64 installation are not recognized as already installed.

This is reproducible with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS x64 Desktop, with any i386 .deb. Like the Google Earch 32 bit package from: earth.google.com/download-earth.html

To reproduce it, first enable multiarch with:

$ sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
$ sudo apt-get update

Then double click on the downloaded google-earth-stable_current_i386.deb file, and press "Install" in Ubuntu Software Center.

The package is installed. Now exit from Ubuntu Software Center, and click again on the .deb.

The same "Install" choice is provided, instead of the expected "Reinstall" that instead appears on a 32 bit Ubuntu 14.04 system.

Note that the fact that goggle-earth doesn't start for missing dependencies is not interesting in this case.

This is the result of dpkg-query:

$ sudo dpkg-query -l google-earth-stable
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
iW google-earth-s 7.1.2.2041-r i386 Explore, search and discover the

$ sudo dpkg-query -s google-earth-stable
Package: google-earth-stable
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: net
Installed-Size: 182617
Maintainer: Google Earth Team <email address hidden>
Architecture: i386
Version: 7.1.2.2041-r0
Depends: lsb-core (>= 3.2)
Pre-Depends: dpkg (>= 1.14.0)

[SteveDude (stevedude-)]

I just completed a fresh install of 14.10, 64-bit. I am experiencing the same thing. I have 11 items that are in my list to "Reinstall" from previous purchases. Each one only shows a "More Info" button and not an "Install" button in this list view. When clicking on the individual application and choosing "More Info", the following statement is shown underneath the application title and above it's description:

"Purchased on XYZ DATE but not available for your current Ubuntu version. Please contact the vendor for an update".

I cannot install programs I previously paid for via the Ubuntu Software Center.