[Gllug] Weird dependency problem in Debian Etch

[Peter Childs]

On 15/02/07, John Winters <john at sinodun.org.uk> wrote:
> John Winters wrote:
> > I've hit a dependency problem on a Debian Etch box and I don't
> > understand why it doesn't affect all my boxes.
> >
> > A number of packages are involved, but to strip out just one chain of
> > dependencies:
> >
> > debconf-i18n        depends on
> > libtext-iconv-perl    which depends on
> > perlapi-5.8.8        which doesn't exist
> >
> > On one box I am getting the dependency problems which I would expect,
> > but on all my others I seem to have the first two packages installed
> > without the 3rd one (breaking the dependency rules) and nothing
> > complains.  Why?
>
> I've made a bit of progress.  perlapi-5.8.8 isn't a real package; it's a
> virtual package provided by perl-base.  The odd thing is, the 3rd box
> (the one with a problem) has perl-base installed and yet the system
> complains that it doesn't have perlapi-5.8.8.  Like so:
>
> slug:~# apt-get upgrade
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree... Done
> You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
> The following packages have unmet dependencies.
>    libcompress-zlib-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libdbd-mysql-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libdigest-sha1-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libhtml-parser-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libnet-dns-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libsocket6-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libtext-charwidth-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
>    libtext-iconv-perl: Depends: perlapi-5.8.8 but it is not installable
> E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.
> slug:~#
>
> If I try using -f then the system decides it wants to uninstall
> practically everything - including the kernel, which would not be good.
>
> It seems the dpkg database is corrupt?  How does one fix it?
>
> TIA,
> John
>
> P.S.  It's an NSLU2, in case that's relevant.
>
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>

Hmm Its a guess I'm sure somone else will know better, but aptitude
may give a better solution.  reinstallling perl-base may fix the
problem.

Peter.
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