Bug#807980: libevdocument3-4: Fails to install without specifying an error

[Simon McVittie]

Control: reassign 807980 dpkg

On 16/12/15 01:15, Wayne Rowcliffe wrote:
> I was able to get things working correctly by moving libevdocument3-4 up
> in the `/var/lib/dpkg/status` file so that it was next to `evince`. I
> have no idea why that changed anything, but afterward it found the
> package fine.

That sounds as though it must have been something going wrong with dpkg,
rather than anything specific to evince or libevdocument3-4; you were
able to avoid it by editing internal state of dpkg, which should
normally be the only thing that edits /var/lib/dpkg/status. Reassigning
the bug.

I am not a dpkg maintainer, but I expect that they will ask you for the
following information:

* version of dpkg and the packages it depends on
  ("reportbug --template dpkg")
* entries in /var/log/dpkg.log* since just before the upgrade that
  failed to complete
* entries in /var/log/apt/history.log* and /var/log/apt/term.log*
  since just before that upgrade

so you can probably speed up diagnosis by providing that information
before you are asked for it.

This is not necessarily a grave-severity bug, but I'll let the dpkg
maintainers decide that.

Original bug report, for context for the dpkg maintainers:
> I had an upgrade that failed to complete. It said evince was partially
> installed. So I ran `apt-get install -f` and the problem persisted.
>
> I ran `apt-get remove libevdocument3-4 evince libevview3-3` and was
> then able to complete the upgrade and afterwards install several other
> packages.
>
> I then tried to reinstall evince.
>
> apt-get install evince
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree
> Reading state information... Done
> The following additional packages will be installed:
>   libevdocument3-4 libevview3-3
>
> The following NEW packages will be installed:
>   evince libevdocument3-4 libevview3-3
> 0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not
> upgraded.
> Need to get 0 B/2,304 kB of archives.
> After this operation, 3,591 kB of additional disk space will
> be used.
> Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
> (Reading database ... 311103 files and directories currently
> installed.)
> Preparing to unpack .../libevdocument3-4_3.18.2-1_amd64.deb
> ....
> Unpacking libevdocument3-4 (3.18.2-1) over (3.18.2-1) ...
> Selecting previously unselected package libevview3-3.
> Preparing to unpack .../libevview3-3_3.18.2-1_amd64.deb ...
> Unpacking libevview3-3 (3.18.2-1) ...
> Selecting previously unselected package evince.
> Preparing to unpack .../evince_3.18.2-1_amd64.deb ...
> Unpacking evince (3.18.2-1) ...
> Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-22) ...
> Setting up libevdocument3-4 (3.18.2-1) ...
> Setting up libevview3-3 (3.18.2-1) ...
> Setting up evince (3.18.2-1) ...
> Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-22) ...
>
> That seemed to be successful.
>
> However:
>
> apt-get install
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree
> Reading state information... Done
> You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
> The following packages have unmet dependencies:
>  evince : Depends: libevdocument3-4 (= 3.18.2-1) but it is not
> installed
>  libevview3-3 : Depends: libevdocument3-4 (>= 3.18.0) but it is not
>  installed
> E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.
>
> and
>
> apt-cache policy libevdocument3-4
> libevdocument3-4:
>   Installed: (none)
>   Candidate: 3.18.2-1
>   Version table:
>      3.18.2-1 700
>        700 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 Packages
>        650 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable/main amd64
> Packages

Regards,
    S