Bug#641298: libmaven-scm-java: circular dependency hell

[Bill Allombert]

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 05:07:18PM +0200, Torsten Werner wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 3:12 PM, Bill Allombert <ballombe at debian.org> wrote:
> > Complex circular dependencies are known to cause problems during upgrade, so we
> > should try to get rid of them.
> 
> may you explain a bug scenario that can be reproduced, please? I am

See threads
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/06/msg02111.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/11/msg01101.html

Symptoms include 'apt-get dist-upgrade' from stable to next-stable trying to
remove a lot of packages by failure to find a better upgrade path, to
maintainer scripts failing because they assume the Dependent package to be
configured.

This also a matter of good taste: it is pointless to provide 3 packages if the user is forced
to install them all: a single one would do. Most of the time it is caused by a
packaging bug (e.g. a typo in debian/control).

> not aware of update problems of libmaven-scm-java,
> libmaven2-core-java, and libwagon-java in the past.

Indeed. Given that this circular dependency was introduced yesterday, it could not have
caused problem with previous upgrade.

Cheers,
-- 
Bill. <ballombe at debian.org>

Imagine a large red swirl here.