On 3/28/22 5:35 PM, Ash Joubert wrote:
On 29/03/2022 03:34, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote:
I am new to running the unstable sid distribution. Today I wanted to
upgrade it and when using the dist-upgrade option of apt-get (I think
that's equivalent to the full-upgrade option of apt), I got this:
[...]> The problem is with the section that lists the packages that
will be
REMOVED.
Yes, this is normal for sid. Unwanted removals are usually a sign that
dependencies are in transition. All sid administrators should know how
to recognise this situation and avoid unwanted removals. I use:
apt-get -s -V -o Debug::pkgProblemResolver=yes dist-upgrade
to simulate a dist-upgrade to see what is going on and then "apt-mark
hold" to hold packages until I am satisfied that dist-upgrade can
proceed without unwanted removals. I use the package web page, package
tracker, and transition tracker
<https://release.debian.org/transitions/> to help identify the cause.
"apt-mark showhold" lists held packages, which can be unheld when the
transition is complete.
Kind regards,
Thank you, Ash, for this tip as I learn how to manage package
dependencies on Sid. I also look at the package web page and package
trackers to see what might be wrong. I will continue to use stable most
of the time for ordinary work, and keep Sid up to date when I am working
on bug fixes. It looks like quite a few packages are currently affected
by the recent upgrade of Python to 3.10, including Xen, Samba, and Libre
Office. For Xen, it appears a binary-only upload fixes it, and that was
already done earlier today.
Cheers,
Chuck
