synaptic lists packages as auto removable when they shouldn't be

[Hew]

Binary package hint: synaptic

Synaptic sometimes lists packages as auto removable when they shouldn't be.

Steps to reproduce:
0) Make sure you are viewing the Status sidebar in Synaptic
1) Mark a package with dependent packages for removal (eg. synaptic).
2) When prompted that you would have to remove dependant packages as well, press cancel.
3) Select the "Installed (auto removable)" option in the Status sidebar.

What should happen:
None of those packages should be listed as auto removable.

What actually happens:
Some/all of those packages are listed as auto removable. If you select a different view and go back to "Installed (auto removable)", the packages will no longer be listed.

Ubuntu Karmic, synaptic 0.62.5ubuntu3

[Yotam Benshalom (benshalom)]

It affects me too, and it is a bug with serious implications. Important packages can be removed by mistake, based on synaptic's erroneous recommendation.

[Hew (hew)]

Still a problem with synaptic 0.62.7ubuntu2.

[Hew (hew)]

Still a problem with synaptic 0.63.1ubuntu1.

[Lord_neo (lord-neo)]

Affect me too... is there any mode to "clean" with aptitude or apt?

[Lord_neo (lord-neo)]

I want to specify that all the packages become autoremovable after signing them as automatically installed. I did it because ALL my packages became manually installed (even system and default packages).

[Hew (hew)]

That's not the same bug (and not a bug at all if you're marking every package as automatically installed). Please read the bug description for what this bug is about.

[skorasaurus (skoraw)]

Following the directions in the bug description, I am unable to reproduce this bug using ver. 0.63.1ubuntu14

[Hew (hew)]

Confirmed the bug still exists with synaptic 0.75.1ubuntu2

[hawkal (hawkal)]

I'm getting the same problem but what I did was remove an unnecessary meta package that had dependents that I need. They didn't need the meta package to still function but they've been set as "auto removable" for some reason.

[hawkal (hawkal)]

Okay maybe it wasn't the same problem. They were put into "auto removable" because they were associated with the meta package they were installed with so I just did a complete removal of each application then reinstalled them individually and now none are listed as "auto removable".

[Jani Uusitalo (uusijani)]

Confirming: bug still present in Precise, Synaptic 0.75.2ubuntu9. Reproducible using the steps in the initial report.

[Jani Uusitalo (uusijani)]

Actually, scratch that: I can't reproduce this with those steps. Instead, when I mark to upgrade a package that causes removals, those removals become 'auto removables' when I cancel the upgrade.

[Tom Mercelis (tom-mercelis)]

I'm running Precise, and for some reason I got a partial distribution upgrade from the software update; It suggested to remove "125 Obsolete packages". Which included a lot of the i386 libraries (I at some point explicitly installed ia32-libs to have those, and I never uninstalled that package.)
I also explicitly installed lvm2 and use lvm2 partitions... but somehow synaptic lists lvm2 in "auto removable" category.

I don't know what steps I can do to go from clean install (I installed this machine only a few weeks ago) to the situation were synaptics wants to remove critical packages... but this should not happen at all! If I wasn't paying enough attention and trusted Synaptic, I would now be left with an unbootable system.

[Yuri Einullo (oddowl)]

Hello, there! I'm a novice to Linux, and I was only playing with my Precise for about a month now. I have been trying different packages extensively, just to see what works best for me. Normally, after removing a package apt-get autoremove would give me 2-3 items to remove, which did look like they were linked to removed one. However, I installed python-pip and python-setuptools in order to do a pip install of imapclient (I wish I had a long of Terminal). So somewhere in the process it all messed up, and now Synaptic and "apt-get autoremove" return so many packages to me. Not sure if I should confirm or not. May be there's some conflict between apt and pip, no?