Re: [LUG] conflict among the .debs

[Neil Williams <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 17:51 +0000, Robin Cornelius wrote:
> Neil Williams wrote:
> > On Wed, 2008-03-19 at 11:47 +0000, Adrian Midgley wrote:
> >   
> >> I don't have a solution to this problem (Lenny)
> >>
> >>
> >> Unpacking libpth20 (from .../libpth20_2.0.7-9_i386.deb) ...
> >> dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libpth20_2.0.7-9_i386.deb
> >> (--unpack):
> >>  trying to overwrite `/usr/lib/libpth.so.20.0.27', which is also in
> >> package libpth2
> >> Errors were encountered while processing:
> >>  /var/cache/apt/archives/libpth20_2.0.7-9_i386.deb
> >> E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
> >
> > Please report a bug - this needs to be fixed in the package.
> >
> > "libpth20: missing Replaces: libpth2"
> >
> >   
> What i don't understand, after looking some more is that libpth2 is a 
> virtual package in etch that provides libpth20. Could this have been 
> fixed previously and Adrian had a very old deb before a fix was applied 
> or does replaces line still need adding?

Support for Replace: needs to always go back as far as oldstable (Sarge
currently). If it is possible for an up-to-date system of any flavour of
Debian between oldstable and sid to come up against this situation, then
a bug exists.

The reason is that such errors break all other system upgrades.

There is a backported package that provides a route out of this
situation but you'd need to install it first.

The package actually in Sarge is libpth2 - a real package, not a
virtual:
http://packages.debian.org/sarge/libpth2

The package in Sarge backports is libpth20 with a virtual libpth2:
http://packages.debian.org/sarge-backports/libpth20

Now if you use backports, that's fine.

This page shows the overall picture:
http://packages.debian.org/libpth2

The file that dpkg is trying to replace comes from etch:
http://packages.debian.org/etch/libpth20
http://packages.debian.org/search?suite=default&section=all&arch=any&searchon=contents&keywords=%2Fusr%2Flib%2Flibpth.so.20.0.27

The package that Adrian is trying to install comes from Sid/Lenny,
migrated this month:
http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/pth.html

A Replaces: is certainly missing here and it could well be an RC bug
because a smooth migration from Etch to Lenny is a Release Goal of
Lenny.

I believe the problem arises from this changelog entry:
pth (2.0.7-7) unstable; urgency=low
* Removed old provides/conflicts/replaces. Only two packages require a
     binNMU.
http://packages.debian.org/changelogs/pool/main/p/pth/current/changelog

A bug is certainly appropriate here, IMHO, to replace the Replaces: for
this particular situation, even if the other provides/conflicts are not
re-introduced.

So yes, this has been fixed previously but a regression appears to have
reintroduced the bug.

-- 

Neil Williams
=============
http://www.data-freedom.org/
http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/
http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/



-- 
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list
FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html