[resolved] Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

[doctordruidphd]

This is a problem that has been hanging for a while. Every time I run apt-get (or attempt to run aptitude), it threatens to autoremove what comes down to most of the software on my system, saying it isn't needed any more. That's not true; although a lot of it hasn't been used for a while, I still want it on the system. Is there a way to fix or reset whatever is trying to remove all this stuff? I can't use aptitude at all because of this, and the messages from apt-get are just irritating. I don't know where apt is getting this info, but it's incorrect and would be nice to fix it.

Note: I did see a message on the ubuntu forum somewhere about not using autoremove. Maybe this is a bug, but maybe not.

[dibl]

Re: Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

Actually I think if you will investigate the named packages, you will find out that they are so-called "meta" packages. Autoremove will only strip out the "wrapper", not the included packages.

I don't remember hearing any cautions about using apt-get autoremove on *buntu, but of course it is a serious no-no for sidux.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

Actually I think if you will investigate the named packages, you will find out that they are so-called "meta" packages.

Nope. They are real packages. Some are junk, yes, but many are not.

greenman@Wolfenstein:~$ sudo apt-get --simulate autoremove
[sudo] password for greenman: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree    
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
 abiword-help aisleriot amarok-common amarok-utils anjuta-common aptdaemon autogen binutils-static
 brasero bridge-utils bsh bsh-gcj bzr bzrtools cfortran check compiz-fusion-plugins-extra
 debconf-utils devhelp-common dpatch enfuse epiphany-browser-data eternal-damnation
 eternity-screensaver exuberant-ctags fauhdlc festlex-cmu festlex-poslex firefox-3.5-branding
 glchess glines glom-doc gnect gnibbles gnobots2 gnome-app-install gnome-blackjack gnome-core
 gnome-games-common gnome-js-common gnome-mahjongg gnome-mount gnome-pilot gnome-pilot-conduits
 gnome-sudoku gnome-system-tools gnomine gnotravex gnotski gobject-introspection
 gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs gtali gvfs-bin hspell hugin-data hugin-tools iagno indi inigo irb1.8
 kdeartwork-misc kode konqueror-plugin-adblock konqueror-plugin-akregator
 konqueror-plugin-autorefresh konqueror-plugin-babelfish konqueror-plugin-crashes
 konqueror-plugin-dirfilter konqueror-plugin-domtreeviewer konqueror-plugin-fsview
 konqueror-plugin-imagerotation konqueror-plugin-khtmlsettings konqueror-plugin-kimgallery
 konqueror-plugin-minitools konqueror-plugin-rellinks konqueror-plugin-uachanger
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 libservlet2.3-java libservlet2.4-java libsidplay2 libsmi2-common libsmokekde4-2 libsmokeqt4-2
 libsoup2.2-8 libsqlite0-dev libsqueeze-0.2-0 libstreamanalyzer-dev libstreams-dev
 libsuitesparse-3.2.0 libtag-extras1 libtasn1-3-dev libtcd0 libtelepathy-farsight0
 libterm-readline-gnu-perl libtext-diff-perl libtie-ixhash-perl libtiff4-dev libtiffxx0c2
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 texlive-base-bin-doc texlive-generic-extra texlive-humanities texlive-humanities-doc
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 xfs xulrunner-1.9 xulrunner-1.9.1 xulrunner-1.9.1-gnome-support
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 459 to remove and 3 not upgraded.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

Curiosity would get the better of me. I'd back up all my "keeper" files and then let apt do its thing.

IF, when it is done, I still have an Internet connection I'd do an
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

If that doesn't work there is always the Kubuntu Lucid Lynx LiveCD (which I'd be sure that I had a working copy of)

[dibl]

Re: Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

The notion that apt-get autoremove would rip out needed packages is a bit shocking, although I cannot argue with what the output is showing. What I can't see is whether or not the listed packages are the latest version, or a prior version that could be removed with no damage.

On my Kubuntu 10.04 system, I ran apt-get autoremove as recently as this past weekend with no damage whatsoever ...

[GreyGeek]

Re: Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

When I first started using Jaunty, there were a couple times when, while trying to uninstall a package, it was told that several other packages had to be removed as well. Not as many is shown in the OP, but more than I was comfortable with, and certainly not packages that I wanted to remove, i.e., my lib32 compatibility libraries, stellarium and a couple others.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

What I can't see is whether or not the listed packages are the latest version

I did some spot checking; yes, they are the current installed versions.

I'd back up all my "keeper" files and then let apt do its thing.

Copied the system to a test partition and let it fly. It did in fact do what it promised. So I erased the test partition -- I'm not a fan of reinstalling and reconfiguring an entire system.

there is always the Kubuntu Lucid Lynx LiveCD

Which of course will not boot on my system, but that's another treat for another day...

When I first started using Jaunty, there were a couple times when, while trying to uninstall a package, it was told that several other packages had to be removed as well.

Much as I dislike gui package managers, one way around that (sometimes) is to use synaptic, and unmark the ones you don't want to delete. Which may actually be why I am having this problem, as apt may really think they are not needed because of other things that have been removed. Pretty strange to want to remove some of those things, though, as they're not all trivial.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: [resolved] Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

I think I found out what happened. Actually, there are several problems, among them:

Some packages have changed dependencies, and evidently the apt system did not recognize that during updates, leaving zombie packages behind.

Some updates removed core packages (which I forgot about - amarok for one), and now the system is trying to remove its dependencies. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. Seems the system removed amarok and its components, then upgraded the components but forgot to reinstall the program. That happened with several packages.

Updated versions of packages that never removed the old versions (xulrunner for one).

Bottom line -- the update/upgrade process is not entirely clean. I had to go through each item removed, figure out what it was, and whether it needed to be reinstalled (several did). But now autoremove seems happy.

[rainbowsally]

Re: [resolved] Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

Hi Doc. I have discovered this problem independently and came up with a different kind of solution.

Correct the package list on the DVD.

See below....

I think I found out what happened. Actually, there are several problems, among them:

Some packages have changed dependencies, and evidently the apt system did not recognize that during updates, leaving zombie packages behind.

Some updates removed core packages (which I forgot about - amarok for one), and now the system is trying to remove its dependencies. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. Seems the system removed amarok and its components, then upgraded the components but forgot to reinstall the program. That happened with several packages.

Updated versions of packages that never removed the old versions (xulrunner for one).

Bottom line -- the update/upgrade process is not entirely clean. I had to go through each item removed, figure out what it was, and whether it needed to be reinstalled (several did). But now autoremove seems happy.

Don't try loading anything with libc-bin dependencies, or libgomp1, or you'll be right back in the fray. :-)

The problem is that the deps/precise/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz (and bz2) files do NOT match what's in the archive. As a result, apt-get and muon try to remove the unresolved dependencies (libs and stuff that are identical in every way but can't satisify the NNubuntuNN requirements because those are hard coded into the Depends lines), and this will truly, as you have discovered, remove everything from libc on up, including of course your desktop and even X11.

So... We can create a new archive Package list. (Modify this to use the paths to your DVD is you don't want the archive on your hard disk.)

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3119981.0

It sounds like you have this fixed at your end of things, but I thought I'd mention another fix for those still discovering it. :-)

I like your avitar. Bad hair day? ;-)

.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: [resolved] Stopping apt/aptitude from removing most of my system

Hi, this is a pretty old thread. The problem with -i386 dependencies on precise is somewhat different than the problem with autoremove. I have learned NEVER to use autoremove on a development version, and haven't really had the original problem since. In fact, I just don't use autoremove; when I get a list of un-needed packages, I remove them individually.

The problem of 64-bit and 32-bit dependency conflicts on precise is somewhat different. What I have discovered is that the 64-bit and 32-bit packages are a little out of sync, and they are both trying to write the same file (a documentation tar.gz file) which are different versions, resulting in the newer package trying to remove the older one. I haven't seen this problem in a while, so maybe it has been resolved by the packagers.