Control: severity -1 minor On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 11:59:50PM +0200, Julian Andres Klode wrote: > Control: tag -1 wontfix > > On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 11:37:33PM +0200, inasprecali wrote: > > Package: apt > > Version: 2.6.1 > > Severity: normal > > X-Debbugs-Cc: inasprec...@disroot.org > > > > Dear Maintainer, > > > > Running apt autoremove (or autopurge) resulted in some packages being > > marked as manual afterwards, as shown by the output of apt-mark > > showmanual. > > > > Here is what happened in my particular situation. > > > > I run the full GNOME desktop environment, obtained by installing the > > "gnome" metapackage (not gnome-core). Some time later, I also > > installed the "libreoffice" metapackage. > > > > Afterwards, I noticed that the libreoffice metapackage also pulls in > > libreoffice-base and libreoffice-draw, which I am not using. Since I > > noticed that the gnome metapackage depends on the following packages: > > > > - libreoffice-writer > > - libreoffice-impress > > - libreoffice-draw > > - libreoffice-calc > > > > which are the only parts of the LibreOffice suite I use regularly, I > > decided to remove the libreoffice metapackage to tidy things up. > > > > To do so, I marked it as "automatically installed" by running > > "apt-mark auto libreoffice", then running "apt autoremove" > > > > As expected, packages that were now no longer required, including the > > libreoffice metapackage itself, were removed. To my surprise, the > > following packages were later marked as manual according to apt-mark. > > Here is the output of apt-mark showmanual | grep libreoffice right > > after autoremoval: > > > > libreoffice-calc > > libreoffice-core > > libreoffice-draw > > libreoffice-gtk3 > > libreoffice-impress > > libreoffice-writer > > > > Before autoremoval, only libreoffice-gtk3 was listed, which was > > expected since I did install that package manually. > > > > Using autopurge instead of autoremove produces the same result. > > Interestingly enough, if I just run "apt autoremove libreoffice" > > directly instead of using apt-mark auto and _then_ running apt > > atoremove, the issue does not occur: autoremove does not mark any > > additional packages as manual. > > > > To summarize, the following commands should be sufficient to reproduce > > the issue: > > > > apt install gnome && apt install libreoffice && apt-mark auto libreoffice > > && apt autoremove > > > > After a brief interaction on the #debian channel on the IRC server > > irc.debian.org, another user was able to reproduce the issue on > > Trixie. This bug report specifically refers to Bookworm. > > > > The main question is: is this the expected behavior? > > Yes. > > > > > If so, this should be described in detail in the official > > documentation, preferably in the manpage. I couldn't find anything > > about this anywhere in the documentation or the internet. > > This is an implementation detail of the solver to not remove entire > desktops and cause systems to become inoperable when a metapackage is > being removed. > > i.e. if you just run apt remove libreoffice-writer, it should not remove > your entire gnome desktop, only the metapackage that pulls in > libreoffice-writer and preserve the rest.
FWIW, if you run apt remove libreoffice, you get the behavior you were expecting (packages remain automatically installed), this is designed to be straightforward and feel natural. You want to remove the package? It will be removed and its dependencies too if unused. You want to remove something a metapackage depends on? Only the metapackage is removed. -- debian developer - deb.li/jak | jak-linux.org - free software dev ubuntu core developer i speak de, en
