Package: vim Version: 2:8.2.2434-3 Severity: important Hi!
This one was kind of fun ... upgrading an up to date buster machine to bullseye, I hit the conffile prompt I normally expect to see for vim: Setting up vim-common (2:8.2.2434-3) ... Configuration file '/etc/vim/vimrc' ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation. ... So I do what I always do, and reach for vimdiff to merge the new changes in vimrc ... only this time, it tells me: # vimdiff /etc/vim/vimrc /etc/vim/vimrc.dpkg-new -bash: vimdiff: command not found and vim's not there either! # vim -bash: vim: command not found Which of course it is. But it's a symlink through /etc/alternatives, and a quick look shows they're now (almost) all dangling ... What I *think* has happened is that the upgrade ordering has vim-common being configured after all of the other vim packages have been unpacked, but before any of them have been configured. And with vim-gtk becoming a dummy package with vim-gtk3 taking over from it, there's a window in there where the alternatives have all fallen apart because they weren't changed before /usr/bin/vim-gtk vanished, and that doesn't start to get fixed until the rest of the vim* packages are configured again too. As later we see: Setting up nano (5.4-2) ... Installing new version of config file /etc/nanorc ... update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group editor) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/editor is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /bin/nano to provide /usr/bin/editor (editor) in auto mode ... Setting up vim (2:8.2.2434-3) ... update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group vim) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/vim is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/vim (vim) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group vimdiff) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/vimdiff is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/vimdiff (vimdiff) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group rvim) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/rvim is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/rvim (rvim) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group rview) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/rview is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/rview (rview) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group vi) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/vi is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/vi (vi) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group view) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/view is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/view (view) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group ex) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/ex is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.basic to provide /usr/bin/ex (ex) in auto mode ... Setting up vim-gtk3 (2:8.2.2434-3) ... update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/vim (vim) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/vimdiff (vimdiff) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/rvim (rvim) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/rview (rview) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/vi (vi) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/view (view) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/ex (ex) in auto mode update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/editor (editor) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group gvim) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/gvim is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/gvim (gvim) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group gview) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/gview is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/gview (gview) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group rgview) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/rgview is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/rgview (rgview) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group rgvim) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/rgvim is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/rgvim (rgvim) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group evim) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/evim is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/evim (evim) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group eview) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/eview is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/eview (eview) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: alternative /usr/bin/vim.gtk (part of link group gvimdiff) doesn't exist; removing from list of alternatives update-alternatives: warning: /etc/alternatives/gvimdiff is dangling; it will be updated with best choice update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/vim.gtk3 to provide /usr/bin/gvimdiff (gvimdiff) in auto mode Setting up vim-gtk (2:8.2.2434-3) ... The workaround of course is easy, just bypass the alternative link and invoke one of the copies of vim that does exist directly - but if vim-gtk really needs to be renamed to vim-gtk3, then the dummy vim-gtk probably needs to fix the alternative before it removes the binary that it might have been pointing to, in preinst, rather than leaving the other packages to stumble through a mess that needs cleaning up. There might be something more to it than that - but after digging though the logs you might need to reproduce this, I *think* it actually is as simple as the vim-gtk binary vanishing without first explicitly telling update-alternatives the package is removing it, not replacing it ... This is the set I have after the upgrade: $ dpkg -l | grep vim ii vim 2:8.2.2434-3 ii vim-common 2:8.2.2434-3 ii vim-gtk 2:8.2.2434-3 ii vim-gtk3 2:8.2.2434-3 ii vim-gui-common 2:8.2.2434-3 ii vim-runtime 2:8.2.2434-3 ii vim-scripts 20210124.1 ii vim-tiny 2:8.2.2434-3 Cheers, Ron
