[Bug 1544781] [NEW] /var/lib/dpkg/available is not updated when packages are installed

Thu Feb 11 23:50:51 UTC 2016

Public bug reported:

This is a fresh install from a Xenial daily today.  All I've done post-
install is configure networking, add a ppa, update the apt-cache and
dist-upgrade.  Then I installed MAAS to the machine.

Now I am running a script we have to configure MAAS for Certification
and discovered a part that does a dpkg query is failing.  On further
digging, it looks like dpkg is not able to properly query the database.

For example:

bladernr at critical-maas:~$ dpkg -l |grep vim
ii  vim                                           2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         amd64        Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
ii  vim-common                                    2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         amd64        Vi IMproved - Common files
ii  vim-runtime                                   2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         all          Vi IMproved - Runtime files
ii  vim-tiny                                      2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         amd64        Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - compact

dpkg tells me I have vim installed.  Now I try this:

bladernr at critical-maas:~$ dpkg -p vim
dpkg-query: package 'vim' is not available
Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,
and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.

man says this:

-p, --print-avail package-name...
                  Display details about package-name, as found in
                  /var/lib/dpkg/available. Users of APT-based frontends
                  should use apt-cache show package-name instead.

installing packages does not update this file, apparently.  This seems
to be a regression as this works fine in Trusty.

Example: vim was installed via apt-get on Trusty here and dpkg -p works:
bladernr at sulaco:~$ dpkg -p vim
Package: vim
Priority: optional
Section: editors
Installed-Size: 2185
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3
Provides: editor
Depends: vim-common (= 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3), vim-runtime (= 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3), libacl1 (>= 2.2.51-8), libc6 (>= 2.15), libgpm2 (>= 1.20.4), libpython2.7 (>= 2.7), libselinux1 (>= 1.32), libtinfo5
Suggests: ctags, vim-doc, vim-scripts
Size: 955616
Description: Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
 Vim is an almost compatible version of the UNIX editor Vi.
 .
 Many new features have been added: multi level undo, syntax
 highlighting, command line history, on-line help, filename
 completion, block operations, folding, Unicode support, etc.
 .
 This package contains a version of vim compiled with a rather
 standard set of features.  This package does not provide a GUI
 version of Vim.  See the other vim-* packages if you need more
 (or less).
Homepage: http://www.vim.org/
Original-Maintainer: Debian Vim Maintainers <pkg-vim-maintainers at lists.alioth.debian.org>

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-2.16-generic 4.4.0
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-2-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.19.4-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Feb 11 18:41:56 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-02-10 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 (20160210)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: dpkg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: dpkg (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Tags: amd64 apport-bug xenial

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1544781

Title:
  /var/lib/dpkg/available is not updated when packages are installed

Status in dpkg package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  This is a fresh install from a Xenial daily today.  All I've done
  post-install is configure networking, add a ppa, update the apt-cache
  and  dist-upgrade.  Then I installed MAAS to the machine.

  Now I am running a script we have to configure MAAS for Certification
  and discovered a part that does a dpkg query is failing.  On further
  digging, it looks like dpkg is not able to properly query the
  database.

  For example:

  bladernr at critical-maas:~$ dpkg -l |grep vim
  ii  vim                                           2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         amd64        Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
  ii  vim-common                                    2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         amd64        Vi IMproved - Common files
  ii  vim-runtime                                   2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         all          Vi IMproved - Runtime files
  ii  vim-tiny                                      2:7.4.826-1ubuntu3                         amd64        Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - compact

  dpkg tells me I have vim installed.  Now I try this:

  bladernr at critical-maas:~$ dpkg -p vim
  dpkg-query: package 'vim' is not available
  Use dpkg --info (= dpkg-deb --info) to examine archive files,
  and dpkg --contents (= dpkg-deb --contents) to list their contents.

  man says this:

  -p, --print-avail package-name...
                    Display details about package-name, as found in
                    /var/lib/dpkg/available. Users of APT-based frontends
                    should use apt-cache show package-name instead.

  installing packages does not update this file, apparently.  This seems
  to be a regression as this works fine in Trusty.

  Example: vim was installed via apt-get on Trusty here and dpkg -p works:
  bladernr at sulaco:~$ dpkg -p vim
  Package: vim
  Priority: optional
  Section: editors
  Installed-Size: 2185
  Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com>
  Architecture: amd64
  Version: 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3
  Provides: editor
  Depends: vim-common (= 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3), vim-runtime (= 2:7.4.052-1ubuntu3), libacl1 (>= 2.2.51-8), libc6 (>= 2.15), libgpm2 (>= 1.20.4), libpython2.7 (>= 2.7), libselinux1 (>= 1.32), libtinfo5
  Suggests: ctags, vim-doc, vim-scripts
  Size: 955616
  Description: Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
   Vim is an almost compatible version of the UNIX editor Vi.
   .
   Many new features have been added: multi level undo, syntax
   highlighting, command line history, on-line help, filename
   completion, block operations, folding, Unicode support, etc.
   .
   This package contains a version of vim compiled with a rather
   standard set of features.  This package does not provide a GUI
   version of Vim.  See the other vim-* packages if you need more
   (or less).
  Homepage: http://www.vim.org/
  Original-Maintainer: Debian Vim Maintainers <pkg-vim-maintainers at lists.alioth.debian.org>

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-2.16-generic 4.4.0
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-2-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.19.4-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Thu Feb 11 18:41:56 2016
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-02-10 (1 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Alpha amd64 (20160210)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: dpkg
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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