Package: aptitude Version: 0.6.7-1 I just noticed this happening, and so I've produced a simple test case. It appears that the information is being lost at the purge step, not the cancel step. Also, a quick search turns up bug#432017 which looks like a related issue occuring on upgrade.
I hope this example is clear enough; I've picked a package that most people probably don't have installed, so it can be used as is... If there are any further questions, I'm happy to help. Cheers. Step 1: pick a package which is not installed, and has a not-installed dependency: ================================================================================== (I don't use a YubiKey, so this was a convenient example) root@localhost:~# aptitude show libykpers-1-1 ... Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libusb-1.0-0 (>= 2:1.0.8), libyubikey0 (>= 1.5) ... root@localhost:~# aptitude versions '?exact-name(libc6)' '?exact-name(libusb-1.0-0)' libyubikey0 libykpers-1-1 Package libc6: i 2.13-32 100 p 2.13-33 testing 990 Package libusb-1.0-0: i A 2:1.0.9-1 testing 990 Package libykpers-1-1: p 1.6.4-1 testing 990 Package libyubikey0: p 1.8-1 testing 990 Step 2: Install the package, which will automatically install the dependency: ============================================================================= root@localhost:~# aptitude install libykpers-1-1 The following NEW packages will be installed: libykpers-1-1 [1.6.4-1] libyubikey0{a} [1.8-1] (D: libykpers-1-1) 0 packages upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 903 not upgraded. Need to get 47.2 kB of archives. After unpacking 141 kB will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] Get: 1 http://mirror.example.com/pub/debian/ testing/main libyubikey0 i386 1.8-1 [9,544 B] Get: 2 http://mirror.example.com/pub/debian/ testing/main libykpers-1-1 i386 1.6.4-1 [37.6 kB] Fetched 47.2 kB in 1s (25.5 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package libyubikey0. (Reading database ... 492935 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libyubikey0 (from .../libyubikey0_1.8-1_i386.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package libykpers-1-1:i386. Unpacking libykpers-1-1:i386 (from .../libykpers-1-1_1.6.4-1_i386.deb) ... Setting up libyubikey0 (1.8-1) ... Setting up libykpers-1-1:i386 (1.6.4-1) ... Step 3: Observe that the dependency is marked auto: =================================================== root@localhost:~# aptitude versions '?exact-name(libc6)' '?exact-name(libusb-1.0-0)' libyubikey0 libykpers-1-1 Package libc6: i 2.13-32 100 p 2.13-33 testing 990 Package libusb-1.0-0: i A 2:1.0.9-1 testing 990 Package libykpers-1-1: i 1.6.4-1 testing 990 Package libyubikey0: i A 1.8-1 testing 990 Step 4: Fire up aptitude, and mark the original package for purging: ==================================================================== root@localhost:~# aptitude / to search ykp[Enter] to select the libykpers-1-1 package _ to mark for purge q[Enter] to quit aptitude Step 5: Observe that original package and dependency are marked for purge, but not marked auto: =============================================================================================== root@localhost:~# aptitude versions '?exact-name(libc6)' '?exact-name(libusb-1.0-0)' libyubikey0 libykpers-1-1 Package libc6: i 2.13-32 100 p 2.13-33 testing 990 Package libusb-1.0-0: i A 2:1.0.9-1 testing 990 Package libykpers-1-1: ip 1.6.4-1 testing 990 Package libyubikey0: ip 1.8-1 testing 990 Step 4: Fire up aptitude, and cancel pending actions: ===================================================== root@localhost:~# aptitude [Ctrl-T]->Actions->Cancel pending actions q[Enter] to quit aptitude Step 5: Observe that dependency is not marked auto: =================================================== root@localhost:~# aptitude versions '?exact-name(libc6)' '?exact-name(libusb-1.0-0)' libyubikey0 libykpers-1-1 Package libc6: i 2.13-32 100 p 2.13-33 testing 990 Package libusb-1.0-0: i A 2:1.0.9-1 testing 990 Package libykpers-1-1: i 1.6.4-1 testing 990 Package libyubikey0: i 1.8-1 testing 990 -- Package-specific info: Terminal: xterm $DISPLAY is set. which aptitude: /usr/bin/aptitude aptitude version information: aptitude 0.6.7 compiled at May 5 2012 03:07:17 Compiler: g++ 4.6.3 Compiled against: apt version 4.12.0 NCurses version 5.9 libsigc++ version: 2.2.10 Ept support enabled. Gtk+ support disabled. Qt support disabled. Current library versions: NCurses version: ncurses 5.9.20110404 cwidget version: 0.5.16 Apt version: 4.12.0 aptitude linkage: linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb77cc000) libapt-pkg.so.4.12 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libapt-pkg.so.4.12 (0xb7253000) libncursesw.so.5 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.5 (0xb7221000) libtinfo.so.5 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libtinfo.so.5 (0xb7200000) libsigc-2.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0 (0xb71fb000) libcwidget.so.3 => /usr/lib/libcwidget.so.3 (0xb70fa000) libept.so.1.0.5.4.12 => /usr/lib/libept.so.1.0.5.4.12 (0xb70aa000) libxapian.so.22 => /usr/lib/sse2/libxapian.so.22 (0xb6ec2000) libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0xb6eaa000) libsqlite3.so.0 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libsqlite3.so.0 (0xb6e02000) libboost_iostreams.so.1.49.0 => /usr/lib/libboost_iostreams.so.1.49.0 (0xb6deb000) libpthread.so.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0 (0xb6dd2000) libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb6ce6000) libm.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libm.so.6 (0xb6cbf000) libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb6ca2000) libc.so.6 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6 (0xb6b45000) libutil.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libutil.so.1 (0xb6b41000) libdl.so.2 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2 (0xb6b3d000) libbz2.so.1.0 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0xb6b2c000) libuuid.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libuuid.so.1 (0xb6b26000) librt.so.1 => /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/librt.so.1 (0xb6b1d000) /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb77cd000) -- System Information: Debian Release: wheezy/sid APT prefers testing APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'stable') Architecture: i386 (i686) Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-2-686-pae (SMP w/2 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=en_AU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Versions of packages aptitude depends on: ii libapt-pkg4.12 0.9.3 ii libboost-iostreams1.49.0 1.49.0-3 ii libc6 2.13-32 ii libcwidget3 0.5.16-3.2 ii libept1.4.12 1.0.6.1 ii libgcc1 1:4.7.0-8 ii libncursesw5 5.9-7 ii libsigc++-2.0-0c2a 2.2.10-0.1 ii libsqlite3-0 3.7.11-3 ii libstdc++6 4.7.0-8 ii libtinfo5 5.9-7 ii libxapian22 1.2.10-1 ii zlib1g 1:1.2.7.dfsg-1 Versions of packages aptitude recommends: ii apt-xapian-index 0.45 ii aptitude-doc-en [aptitude-doc] 0.6.7-1 ii libparse-debianchangelog-perl 1.2.0-1 ii sensible-utils 0.0.7 Versions of packages aptitude suggests: ii debtags 1.9+b1 ii tasksel 3.09 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". 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