[Aptitude-devel] Bug#758764: Bug#758764: E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download

[Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo]

2014-08-21 08:13 Axel Beckert:
>Control: tag -1 + moreinfo
>
>Hi Dan,
>
>積丹尼 Dan Jacobson wrote:
>> Package: aptitude
>> Version: 0.6.11-1
>>
>> # set libglib2.0-data
>> # aptitude install $@
>> The following packages will be upgraded:
>>   libglib2.0-data
>> 1 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
>> Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 11.3 kB will be used.
>> Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
>> E: Can't find a source to download version '8:6.8.8.9-3' of 'imagemagick-doc:i386'
>> E: Can't find a source to download version '8:6.8.8.9-3' of 'imagemagick-doc:i386'
>> E: Internal error: couldn't generate list of packages to download
>
>Interesting. The error messages seem totally unrelated. Did you have
>any other actions scheduled, e.g. via "aptitude $action
>--schedule-only $package" or the TUI?
>
>Why should be there a version 8:6.8.8.9-3 of imagemagick? The newest
>version of imagemagick in the archive is only 8:6.8.8.9-2 according to
>https://packages.qa.debian.org/i/imagemagick.html (which includes
>what's on incoming.debian.org btw.)
>
>My guess is that there is the installation of imagemagick-doc:i386
>version 8:6.8.8.9-3 scheduled, but it's nowhere available anymore. It
>must have been installed (or scheduled to be installed from a local
>APT repo) in the past, maybe self-compiled and then removed or
>downgraded with non-aptitude, e.g. "dpkg -i".

This message also appears for example if one attempts to reinstall a
package when the current installed version is not available anymore
(e.g.  an obsolete package, or upgradable package if only unstable is
enabled, or if the version vaporised from testing and unstable, etc).

So yes, I guess that it was some kind of action pending in
aptitude/apt/dpkg (or that they thought that it was pending).

-- 
Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo <manuel.montezelo at gmail.com>