[Aptitude-devel] Bug#831858: aptitude sets already auto-installed packages as manually installed

Wed Jul 20 09:27:06 UTC 2016

Package: aptitude
Version: 0.8.1-1
Severity: normal

After installing packages (having dependencies) with "apt" and running
aptitude, aptitude sometimes changes the auto-installed dependencies
to manually installed in the /var/lib/apt/extended_states file.

To reproduce, the problem, I did the following:

1. An upgrade with aptitude (this appears to be important).
/var/log/apt/history.log contains:

Start-Date: 2016-07-20  10:59:25
Upgrade: linux-doc-4.6:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), manpages:amd64 (4.06-1, 4.07-1), libc6-dev-x32:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), linux-libc-dev:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), libc6-dev-i386:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), libdv4:amd64 (1.0.0-10, 1.0.0-11), libc6-dbg:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), libc6-dev:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), ruby-xmlparser:amd64 (0.7.3-2, 0.7.3-3), libc6:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), libc6:i386 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), locales:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), metacity:amd64 (1:3.20.1.1-1, 1:3.20.2-1), ruby-unf-ext:amd64 (0.0.7.2-1+b2, 0.0.7.2-2), linux-headers-4.6.0-1-common:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), linux-headers-4.6.0-1-amd64:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), libinput-bin:amd64 (1.3.1-1, 1.3.3-1), libc-l10n:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), libc-bin:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), libc6-x32:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), libmetacity0:amd64 (1:3.20.1.1-1, 1:3.20.2-1), metacity-common:amd64 (1:3.20.1.1-1, 1:3.20.2-1), libc6-i386:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), linux-kbuild-4.6:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), ruby-unf:amd64 (0.1.4-1, 0.1.4-2), manpages-dev:amd64 (4.06-1, 4.07-1), libc-dev-bin:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), multiarch-support:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), glibc-doc:amd64 (2.23-1, 2.23-2), linux-compiler-gcc-5-x86:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), linux-image-4.6.0-1-amd64:amd64 (4.6.3-1, 4.6.4-1), libinput10:amd64 (1.3.1-1, 1.3.3-1)
End-Date: 2016-07-20  11:06:52

2. Purge packages with "apt" (the goal being to reproduce the problem
after reinstalling them). /var/log/apt/history.log contains:

Start-Date: 2016-07-20  11:07:48
Commandline: apt purge julia libopenlibm2 libjs-mathjax julia-doc libspqr2 libdsfmt-19937-1 fonts-mathjax libjs-underscore sphinx-rtd-theme-common libpcre2-8-0 libopenblas-base libunwind8 julia-common libarpack2 libopenspecfun1 libjs-modernizr libjs-sphinxdoc libutf8proc2
Purge: julia:amd64 (0.4.6-1+b1), libopenlibm2:amd64 (0.5.1+dfsg-1), libutf8proc2:amd64 (2.0.1-1), libjs-mathjax:amd64 (2.6.1-1), julia-doc:amd64 (0.4.6-1), libspqr2:amd64 (1:4.5.3-1), libdsfmt-19937-1:amd64 (2.2.3+dfsg-3), fonts-mathjax:amd64 (2.6.1-1), libjs-underscore:amd64 (1.7.0~dfsg-1), sphinx-rtd-theme-common:amd64 (0.1.9-1), libpcre2-8-0:amd64 (10.21-1), libopenblas-base:amd64 (0.2.18-1), libunwind8:amd64 (1.1-4.1), julia-common:amd64 (0.4.6-1), libarpack2:amd64 (3.4.0-1), libopenspecfun1:amd64 (0.5.2-1), libjs-modernizr:amd64 (2.6.2+ds1-1), libjs-sphinxdoc:amd64 (1.4.5-1)
End-Date: 2016-07-20  11:07:56

3. Reinstall the packages (with auto-installed dependencies) with
"apt". /var/log/apt/history.log contains:

Start-Date: 2016-07-20  11:08:36
Commandline: apt install julia julia-doc
Install: julia:amd64 (0.4.6-1+b1), libopenlibm2:amd64 (0.5.1+dfsg-1, automatic), libutf8proc2:amd64 (2.0.1-1, automatic), libjs-mathjax:amd64 (2.6.1-1, automatic), julia-doc:amd64 (0.4.6-1), libspqr2:amd64 (1:4.5.3-1, automatic), libdsfmt-19937-1:amd64 (2.2.3+dfsg-3, automatic), fonts-mathjax:amd64 (2.6.1-1, automatic), libjs-underscore:amd64 (1.7.0~dfsg-1, automatic), sphinx-rtd-theme-common:amd64 (0.1.9-1, automatic), libpcre2-8-0:amd64 (10.21-1, automatic), libopenblas-base:amd64 (0.2.18-1, automatic), libunwind8:amd64 (1.1-4.1, automatic), julia-common:amd64 (0.4.6-1, automatic), libarpack2:amd64 (3.4.0-1, automatic), libopenspecfun1:amd64 (0.5.2-1, automatic), libjs-modernizr:amd64 (2.6.2+ds1-1, automatic), libjs-sphinxdoc:amd64 (1.4.5-1, automatic)
End-Date: 2016-07-20  11:08:48

At this time, the "automatic" packages are marked as auto-installed
in /var/lib/apt/extended_states, i.e. with "Auto-Installed: 1".

But just after running aptitude as root with no arguments (just to
get the UI), for the above "automatic" packages, the Auto-Installed
field is changed to "Auto-Installed: 0".

-- Package-specific info:
Terminal: xterm-debian
$DISPLAY is set.
which aptitude: /usr/bin/aptitude

aptitude version information:
aptitude 0.8.1
Compiler: g++ 5.3.1 20160429
Compiled against:
  apt version 5.0.0
  NCurses version 6.0
  libsigc++ version: 2.8.0
  Gtk+ support disabled.
  Qt support disabled.

Current library versions:
  NCurses version: ncurses 6.0.20160625
  cwidget version: 0.5.17
  Apt version: 5.0.0

aptitude linkage:
	linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fff249d1000)
	libapt-pkg.so.5.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.5.0 (0x00007fdc3c61f000)
	libncursesw.so.5 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.5 (0x00007fdc3c3ef000)
	libtinfo.so.5 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5 (0x00007fdc3c1c4000)
	libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0x00007fdc3bfbd000)
	libcwidget.so.3 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcwidget.so.3 (0x00007fdc3bcc0000)
	libsqlite3.so.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsqlite3.so.0 (0x00007fdc3b9bb000)
	libboost_iostreams.so.1.58.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libboost_iostreams.so.1.58.0 (0x00007fdc3b7a1000)
	libboost_filesystem.so.1.58.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libboost_filesystem.so.1.58.0 (0x00007fdc3b588000)
	libboost_system.so.1.58.0 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libboost_system.so.1.58.0 (0x00007fdc3b383000)
	libxapian.so.22 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxapian.so.22 (0x00007fdc3af7f000)
	libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007fdc3ad62000)
	libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007fdc3a9e1000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007fdc3a6dc000)
	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007fdc3a4c6000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fdc3a124000)
	libutil.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libutil.so.1 (0x00007fdc39f21000)
	libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fdc39d1d000)
	libresolv.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libresolv.so.2 (0x00007fdc39b05000)
	libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007fdc398ea000)
	libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0x00007fdc396da000)
	liblzma.so.5 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0x00007fdc394b6000)
	liblz4.so.1 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/liblz4.so.1 (0x00007fdc392a4000)
	librt.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/librt.so.1 (0x00007fdc3909b000)
	libuuid.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libuuid.so.1 (0x00007fdc38e96000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x000055f2447a4000)

-- System Information:
Debian Release: stretch/sid
  APT prefers unstable-debug
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.6.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/12 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=POSIX, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages aptitude depends on:
ii  aptitude-common            0.8.1-1
ii  libapt-pkg5.0              1.3~pre2
ii  libboost-filesystem1.58.0  1.58.0+dfsg-5.1
ii  libboost-iostreams1.58.0   1.58.0+dfsg-5.1
ii  libboost-system1.58.0      1.58.0+dfsg-5.1
ii  libc6                      2.23-2
ii  libcwidget3v5              0.5.17-4+b1
ii  libgcc1                    1:6.1.1-9
ii  libncursesw5               6.0+20160625-1
ii  libsigc++-2.0-0v5          2.8.0-1
ii  libsqlite3-0               3.13.0-1
ii  libstdc++6                 6.1.1-9
ii  libtinfo5                  6.0+20160625-1
ii  libxapian22v5              1.2.23-1

Versions of packages aptitude recommends:
ii  libparse-debianchangelog-perl  1.2.0-10
ii  sensible-utils                 0.0.9

Versions of packages aptitude suggests:
pn  apt-xapian-index                <none>
ii  aptitude-doc-en [aptitude-doc]  0.8.1-1
pn  debtags                         <none>
ii  tasksel                         3.35

-- no debconf information