[kwlug-disc] Debian/Ubuntu dependency management

Tue Aug 12 12:55:25 EDT 2014

I doubt this is the case most of the times. Repositories are small 
enough to sync pretty quickly. In any case, any such issue would be 
resolved within a couple of hours. They're not that big. If in doubt, 
switch to the main repository rather than a mirror, or do security 
updates only, for that moment. (It always astonishes me just how much 
smaller linux software distribution is - what windows would be if all 
the cruft were stripped away. It's just an OS and app core 
functionality, people!)

Don't be fooled ... the buntu's have their own version of dll hell that 
results every so often. Generally, circular dependencies.

This happened a couple of weeks back, and a real PITA. Felt like main 
kde/(k)ubuntu packages (...13.2?) got updated missing something left 
behind at (...10.8?). Had to downgrade ... one by one by one ... then 
built back up to get the new package I wanted.

Granted, as Khalid says, generally leave it a couple days and the 
inter-dependency problems get noted and addressed.

Certainly one of the nice things is the list of updates is presented 
beforehand, and a resolution suggestion made. Usually best to just say Q 
(quit) at that point, and give it a couple of days.

And/or only update certain packages given in the list, leaving the 
problematic package(s) out of the list for the moment.

The last time I encountered this before was when trying to add i386 
packages to my x64 system, for Wine and Skype IIRC. NOT FUN!

And, as noted in prior threads ... the Ubuntu packages seem to be better 
presented as a coherent whole, versus the 'Red Hat'/RPM ecosystem. Same 
packages, but the external .rpm's seem less consistent in being coherent 
with the main repositories.

All in all a pretty startingly smooth experience, and more than once 
I've thought ... thank goodness I'm no longer doing it on the prior 
systems! We all have better things to do that try to figure out how drop 
a piece of free software in, and can better focus on just being 
productive with it.

On 14-08-12 12:09 PM, Paul Gallaway wrote:
> I agree, it's awesome. I see this sometimes too and I wonder if it
> happens when repositories are still syncing. So by the next day the
> mirrors have finishing syncing packages and updates go smoothly.
>
> I have three home systems on Wheezy since the early days of it being
> testing and stuck with it when it switched to stable. I had been
> running testing for a number of years previously I've been really
> enjoying the low maintenance that stable requires. The backports
> repository has really improved the long-term usability of stable on
> the desktop which had been my issue previously. I would start on
> stable, want some such improvement from package x so dist-upgrade to
> testing/sid to get it (or pin so many packages that I was effectively
> running testing/sid). I do currently have an issue with the current
> backport Nvidia drivers not working with 3.14 from backports (or at
> all with 3.14 from the reading I did a month ago) so it's not bullet
> proof. On the bright side nouveau drivers are much better than the
> were a couple years ago when I last tested them. Advanced VDPAU
> deinterlacing is really nice to have for 1080i content recorded in
> myth which is the only reason I care to use Nvidia over nouveau.
> ~pAul.
>
> all good things, all in good time...
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 10:52 AM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>> Anyone using a Debian based system knows that dependency its management is
>> top notch (as discussed/debated in other threads).
>>
>> A recent case in point is an update to a package that caused a conflict, and
>> a manual choice to be made. This is something that is extremely rare. Even
>> when it happened, someone detects that and in a few days it is fixed and the
>> upgrade goes through seamlessly.
>>
>> So, yesterday I got notified of updates pending, and when I tried to apply
>> them, I got the conflict below.
>>
>> So, I just waiting for a day, then did an aptitude update, and lo and behold
>> the conflict was resolved ...
>>
>> Here is what it was yesterday ...
>>
>> The following NEW packages will be installed:
>>    libavcodec53{a} libavutil51{a}
>> The following packages will be upgraded:
>>    ffmpeg krb5-locales libav-tools libavdevice53 libavfilter2 libavformat53
>> libgssapi-krb5-2 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386 libk5crypto3
>>    libk5crypto3:i386 libkrb5-3 libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0
>> libkrb5support0:i386 libpostproc52 libswscale2
>> 16 packages upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
>> Need to get 5,541 kB of archives. After unpacking 7,266 kB will be used.
>> The following packages have unmet dependencies:
>>   libavutil-extra-51 : Conflicts: libavutil51 but 4:0.8.15-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
>> is to be installed.
>>   libavcodec-extra-53 : Conflicts: libavcodec53 but 4:0.8.15-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
>> is to be installed.
>> The following actions will resolve these dependencies:
>>
>>       Remove the following packages:
>> 1)     libavcodec-extra-53
>> 2)     libavutil-extra-51
>>
>>       Leave the following dependencies unresolved:
>> 3)     kubuntu-restricted-extras recommends libavcodec-extra-53
>>
>>
>> Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] q
>> Abandoning all efforts to resolve these dependencies.
>>
>> And here it is today ...
>>
>> The following packages will be upgraded:
>>    ffmpeg flashplugin-installer krb5-locales libapparmor-perl libapparmor1
>> libav-tools libavcodec-extra-53 libavdevice53
>>    libavfilter2 libavformat53 libavutil-extra-51 libgssapi-krb5-2
>> libgssapi-krb5-2:i386 libk5crypto3 libk5crypto3:i386 libkrb5-3
>>    libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0 libkrb5support0:i386 libpostproc52
>> libswscale2
>> 21 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
>> Need to get 5,631 kB of archives. After unpacking 10.2 kB will be used.
>> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
>> --
>> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
>> 2bits.com, Inc.
>> Fast Reliable Drupal
>> Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
>> Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
>> Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
>> For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and
>> wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
>>
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