Bug#879261:

[Alex Henry]

I have also recently encountered problems with the nvidia-driver-libs
dependencies on previous updates in my buster system (Debian testing) but
somehow managed to work around it by using one of the alternative
dependency options: I am currently using libgl1-nvidia-glx (instead of
libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx) and libegl1-nvidia (instead of nvidia-egl-icd). I
tried figuring out the root of the issue at the time so as to report a bug
here but really couldn't since the dependency tree for the driver's
libraries is quite complex and eventually just went with the "alternative
options" route instead, through the aforementioned packages.

However, when trying to upgrade my system today, I have come across an
issue that is much more punctual and thus easier to report, which might
have been the core of the problem all along (or not, I don't know). The
root problem is that even though libglvnd0-nvidia indicates that it
replaces libglvnd0, apt somehow doesn't seem to take that into account.
Trying to remove both amd64 and i386 versions of libglvnd0 and attempting
to install the two version of libglvnd0-nvidia instead, which should be a
simple and straightforward operation since the second claims to replace the
first, instead causes 7 broken dependencies on my system (seen via the
aptitude package manager) - among which is libegl1, for example.

I am not sure why this is happening but my hunch would be that
libglvnd0-nvidia and libglvnd0-nvidia:i386 state that they both "replace"
AND "conflict" with their standard libglvnd0 versions. I imagine this could
confuse apt because it would then assume that "this package cannot ever be
installed because it conflicts with a package used by so many other
programs", which in turn leads it to ignore the actual "replaces" field.

Anyway, whatever the real cause of the problem is, the fact is that, for
all practical purposes, libglvnd0-nvidia is not able to replace libglvnd0
in my system - and the same for their i386 versions.

If the maintainers could please look into this issue and try to solve it,
it would be much appreciated, since, of course, I would want to have the
nvidia version of the library installed since I assume it is enhanced to
make use of the accelerated hardware. Also as it stands, libglvnd0-nvidia
seems to be completely worthless as a package right now, since it cannot be
installed, which for me sounds like a grave problem (as far as the Debian
bug reporting guidelines define "grave": "makes the package in question
unusable or mostly so").

Thank you for the excellent nvidia support on Debian and I'm certainly
happy that I can currently keep using the non-nvidia library version
(instead of just having the driver break entirely) - but please consider
looking into this issue (even if only to realize it's an apt bug instead,
which we should also report, if that's indeed the case). Let me know if I
can help in any other way.

Lastly, this bug is breaking routine upgrading in multiple system thats
nvidia-driver (mine's and the original reporter's, at the very least) so
please consider that this might be affecting a big number of Debian users
who rely on these official Debian packages.
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