Release Upgrade Fails: depency cycle for libtinfo5/libncurses5

[Martin Martimeo]

Trying to upgrade (via sudo do-release-upgrade -d) to precise from oneric fails with:

Exception during pm.DoInstall(): E:Couldn't configure pre-depend libtinfo5 for libncurses5, probably a dependency cycle.

Die Aktualisierungen konnten nicht installiert werden

Fehler beim Anwenden
'E:Couldn't configure pre-depend libtinfo5 for libncurses5, probably
a dependency cycle.'

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: update-manager 1:0.152.25.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-13.22-generic 3.0.6
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-13-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Nov 24 12:12:07 2011
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101008.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de:en_AU:ja_JP:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-11-24 (0 days ago)

[Martin Martimeo (martin-martimeo)]

Update worked the last day without this error.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Jiri Grönroos (jiri-gronroos)]

Same here today with up-to-date 64-bit Oneiric, ran sudo do-release-upgrade -d and received this error. I've had fglrx installed but since then removed it due to many bugs.

apt-cache show libtinfo5

Package: libtinfo5
Priority: required
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 436
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Craig Small <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Source: ncurses
Version: 5.9-4
Replaces: libncurses5 (<< 5.9-3)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Pre-Depends: multiarch-support
Filename: pool/main/n/ncurses/libtinfo5_5.9-4_amd64.deb
Size: 95294
MD5sum: c8e8ef686773bf9a9299d5bea26071b6
SHA1: 6289bd0de80c766640f36a6c9e7f18577f268640
SHA256: 45fd988514db3166f2afaf5f796e6e937be4cf70de302644318c296c0a4dd336
Description-en: shared low-level terminfo library for terminal handling
 The ncurses library routines are a terminal-independent method of
 updating character screens with reasonable optimization.
 .
 This package contains the shared low-level terminfo library.
Multi-Arch: same
Homepage: http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
Description-md5: f681846d99e5156a0882bb53c35d3244
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Origin: Ubuntu
Supported: 18m
Task: minimal

Package: libtinfo5
Status: install ok installed
Priority: required
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 392
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Source: ncurses
Version: 5.9-1ubuntu5
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
Description: shared low-level terminfo library for terminal handling
 The ncurses library routines are a terminal-independent method of
 updating character screens with reasonable optimization.
 .
 This package contains the shared low-level terminfo library.
Original-Maintainer: Craig Small <email address hidden>
Homepage: http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/

apt-cache show libncurses5

Package: libncurses5
Priority: required
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 471
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Craig Small <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Source: ncurses
Version: 5.9-4
Depends: libtinfo5 (= 5.9-4), libc6 (>= 2.4)
Pre-Depends: multiarch-support, libtinfo5 (>= 5.9-3)
Recommends: libgpm2
Filename: pool/main/n/ncurses/libncurses5_5.9-4_amd64.deb
Size: 113520
MD5sum: 9cdfb382f754df2445d88fe1c03a6252
SHA1: 139c25953398a623ebd2ae6c2cda3f99ee7a54a0
SHA256: 689d92a01034549677a8d6746a98f99b3638655f6697883b09dc2be8bdc2912a
Description-fi: jaetut kirjastot päätteen hallintaan
 The ncurses library routines are a terminal-independent method of updating
 character screens with reasonable optimization.
Multi-Arch: same
Homepage: http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
Description-md5: 599cbbcff16d09b3b4643d84f37643fd
Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug
Origin: Ubuntu
Supported: 18m
Task: minimal

Package: libncurses5
Status: install ok installed
Priority: required
Section: libs
Installed-Size: 560
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Source: ncurses
Version: 5.9-1ubuntu5
Depends: libtinfo5 (= 5.9-1ubuntu5), libc6 (>= 2.4)
Pre-Depends: libtinfo5
Recommends: libgpm2
Description: sha...

[Antti Kaijanmäki (kaijanmaki)]

please, find my /var/log/dist-upgrade/ attached

[Nick Moffitt (nick-moffitt)]

This still affects alpha-2. I am likewise on oneiric amd64 with all updates applied as of 09:30Z on 3 Feb 2012. Is this a bug that doesn't affect 32-bit users or something?

[Mirco Müller (macslow)]

This currently keeps me from doing any unity-related work, as my work-arounds I used sofar on Oneiric stopped working today.

[Mirco Müller (macslow)]

Even trying get around this with upgrading via USB-image fails... but for other reasons.

[Eduardo Battaglia (eduardo-battaglia)]

This workaround [1] let me upgrade to Precise final.

[1] http://aaron-kelley.net/blog/2012/04/upgrade-from-ubuntu-11-10-oneiric-to-ubuntu-12-04-lts-precise-fails-with-error-couldnt-configure-pre-depend-libtinfo5-for-libncurses5-probably-a-dependency-cycle/