[Aptitude-devel] Bug#1061169: aptitude: "aptitude install debhelper-compat" fails with "virtual package provided by: debhelper debhelper debhelper"

[Askar Safin]

Package: aptitude
Version: 0.8.13-5+b1
Severity: normal

Steps to reproduce:
- Create fresh sid system
- Type "aptitude install debhelper-compat"

The command will fail with the following absolutely absurd message:

# aptitude install debhelper-compat
"debhelper-compat" is a virtual package provided by:
  debhelper debhelper debhelper debhelper debhelper 
You must choose one to install.
Unable to apply some actions, aborting

apt works correctly


-- Package-specific info:
Terminal: xterm
$DISPLAY not set.
which aptitude: /usr/bin/aptitude

aptitude version information:
aptitude 0.8.13
Compiler: g++ 13.2.0
Compiled against:
  apt version 6.0.0
  NCurses version 6.4
  libsigc++ version: 2.12.1
  Gtk+ support disabled.
  Qt support disabled.

Current library versions:
  NCurses version: ncurses 6.4.20240113
  cwidget version: 0.5.18
  Apt version: 6.0.0

aptitude linkage:
	linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffcf0934000)
	libapt-pkg.so.6.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.6.0 (0x00007fb020e00000)
	libncursesw.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.6 (0x00007fb020dc6000)
	libtinfo.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.6 (0x00007fb020d91000)
	libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0x00007fb020d88000)
	libcwidget.so.4 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcwidget.so.4 (0x00007fb020c86000)
	libsqlite3.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsqlite3.so.0 (0x00007fb020b14000)
	libboost_iostreams.so.1.83.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libboost_iostreams.so.1.83.0 (0x00007fb020afa000)
	libxapian.so.30 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxapian.so.30 (0x00007fb0208c9000)
	libstdc++.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007fb020673000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007fb020594000)
	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007fb020570000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fb02038c000)
	libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007fb02036d000)
	libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0x00007fb02035a000)
	liblzma.so.5 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0x00007fb02032a000)
	liblz4.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblz4.so.1 (0x00007fb020304000)
	libzstd.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libzstd.so.1 (0x00007fb020243000)
	libudev.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 (0x00007fb02020e000)
	libsystemd.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsystemd.so.0 (0x00007fb02012c000)
	libgcrypt.so.20 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcrypt.so.20 (0x00007fb01ffe4000)
	libxxhash.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxxhash.so.0 (0x00007fb01ffd1000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fb021480000)
	libuuid.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libuuid.so.1 (0x00007fb01ffc7000)
	libcap.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcap.so.2 (0x00007fb01ffb9000)
	libgpg-error.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgpg-error.so.0 (0x00007fb01ff90000)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 5.10.0-0.deb9.24-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: unable to detect

Versions of packages aptitude depends on:
ii  aptitude-common           0.8.13-5
ii  libapt-pkg6.0             2.7.8
ii  libboost-iostreams1.83.0  1.83.0-2+b2
ii  libc6                     2.37-13
ii  libcwidget4               0.5.18-6+b1
ii  libgcc-s1                 13.2.0-9
ii  libncursesw6              6.4+20240113-1
ii  libsigc++-2.0-0v5         2.12.1-1
ii  libsqlite3-0              3.44.2-1
ii  libstdc++6                13.2.0-9
ii  libtinfo6                 6.4+20240113-1
ii  libxapian30               1.4.22-1

Versions of packages aptitude recommends:
pn  libdpkg-perl    <none>
ii  sensible-utils  0.0.20

Versions of packages aptitude suggests:
pn  apt-xapian-index                <none>
pn  aptitude-doc-en | aptitude-doc  <none>
pn  debtags                         <none>
pn  tasksel                         <none>

-- no debconf information