[Bug 831768] Re: aptitude cannot handle conflicts with multiarch enabled

[Edward Donovan]

I know this isn't a referendum, I just found these two cents in my
pocket.

Shahar wrote:
> It's resolver is not so hot but to say that it "does not work" is a bit misleading!

For what little it's worth, it looks that way to me, too.  I can only
see that aptitude 'works' on a level it had not since multiarch began.
I have used aptitude for the great majority of its existence, about ten
years.  Comparing the present Ubuntu package to those experiences:

- I don't recall a time when the resolver worked much better for me,
than 0.6.6 does.  I don't want to paper over the weaknesses of the
resolver, at all.  I can't see that, with the recent multiarch patch,
they've regressed a lot from the time before multiarch.  I don't have
test cases to offer, and anyone who does may trump my personal
experience.

- Aptitude under multiarch was very broken for me; not really usable,
until the recent 0.6.6.

- I now use it as I did in the past.  It seems restored to the previous
level of functionality, for me, and I keep thinking "this is great, I
have aptitude back!"

So perhaps someone will have a good wording to describe the situation
accurately.   Acknowledge whatever clear regressions still exist, since
pre-multiarch.  And convey that aptitude, in 12.04, works much, much
more than it did in the last few releases.  If I had not been following
Precise all along, that is the information I would want to know.

I don't have a comprehensive picture of everyone's experience, of
course.  This is just my attempt to contribute to it, and I have no
great complaint with the situation as it is.  Thanks.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/831768

Title:
  aptitude cannot handle conflicts with multiarch enabled

Status in aptitude:
  Fix Released
Status in “aptitude” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in “aptitude” source package in Oneiric:
  Triaged
Status in “aptitude” source package in Precise:
  Triaged
Status in Baltix GNU/Linux:
  Invalid
Status in “aptitude” package in Debian:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  TEST CASE:
  1. Enable multiarch (should be automatic on new oneiric systems)
  2. Install an i386 package on amd64 (like flashplugin-installer:i386)
  3. Mark something with a lot of dependencies for installation
  4. On the confirmation screen, try to remove on of the dependencies (aptitude will now fail to perform upgrades when there's a package conflict w/out removing the i386 libs)

  This renders aptitude painful on a multiarch enabled system (default
  in oneiric).

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
  Package: aptitude 0.6.4-1ubuntu2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-9.12-generic 3.0.3
  Uname: Linux 3.0.0-9-generic x86_64
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Tue Aug 23 00:28:38 2011
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=C
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: aptitude
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-03-06 (169 days ago)

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