[Bug 512190] Re: "apt-get --ignore-missing install" fails when it can't find a package

[liquider]

Then perhaps a new option --ignore-invalid should be provided?

There are use cases for this, particularly when the list of package is
dynamically constructed. For example, when localizing packages, a most
general script could be:

locale="pt-br"
package="iceweasel-l10n-"
lang="pt"
apt-get install --ignore-invalid $package$locale $package$lang

for any reasonable choice of variables. The only working alternative,
currently, is:

for p in $package$locale $package$lang; do apt-get install $p; done

which is far less efficient.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/512190

Title:
  "apt-get --ignore-missing install" fails when it can't find a package

Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: apt

  I have a script for configuring Ubuntu after installation.  I'd like
  to be able to run one apt-get command to download and install all the
  packages I normally use.  Unfortunately, the availability of a package
  varies over time and release.  Upon reviewing the manpages, it appears
  that "--ignore-missing" should do what I want, but it still causes
  apt-get to fail:

  sudo apt-get --ignore-missing install kdvi; echo $?
  Reading package lists... Done
  Building dependency tree
  Reading state information... Done
  E: Couldn't find package kdvi
  100

  Now, I could loop and run "apt-get install" for every package,
  ignoring the exit codes, but that doesn't seem to be the way apt-get
  is supposed to be used.

  If --ignore-missing does something other than what I want, the manual
  pages need to make clear exactly what it does.  Furthermore it seems
  reasonable to request an option to allow apt-get to proceed even if it
  doesn't find all the requested packages - failing to install ANY of
  the specified packages when one isn't present seems to be the wrong
  behavior in this context.

  ProblemType: Bug
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Sun Jan 24 21:31:21 2010
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
  Package: apt 0.7.23.1ubuntu2
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=
   PATH=(custom, user)
   LANG=C
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-17.54-generic
  SourcePackage: apt
  Uname: Linux 2.6.31-17-generic x86_64

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