Bug#503296: etch->lenny upgrade through aptitude removed gnome-desktop-environment

[Giovanni Rapagnani]

Starting with exactly the same etch installation on the same computer, and doing
the upgrade as follows, has upgraded the system to lenny without problem.

aptitude install apt aptitude dpkg
aptitude upgrade
aptitude instal xserver-xorg-video-all
aptitude dist-upgrade

The only minor issue is that synaptic, update-manager and update-notifier were
removed. But it is a minor issue compared to losing all the graphical interface
as I had previously.

In attachment, all the output generated by the steps above.

--
Giovanni

[Julien Cristau-6]

On Sat, Nov  1, 2008 at 16:33:56 +0100, Giovanni Rapagnani wrote:

> Starting with exactly the same etch installation on the same computer, and
> doing the upgrade as follows, has upgraded the system to lenny without
> problem.
>
> aptitude install apt aptitude dpkg
> aptitude upgrade
> aptitude instal xserver-xorg-video-all
> aptitude dist-upgrade
>
Does apt-get dist-upgrade instead of aptitude work better?  X drivers
disappearing on upgrade is really not a viable option, for obvious
reasons.

Cheers,
Julien



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[Giovanni Rapagnani]

On 05/11/08 15:08, Julien Cristau wrote:
> Does apt-get dist-upgrade instead of aptitude work better?  X drivers
> disappearing on upgrade is really not a viable option, for obvious
> reasons.
Yes, same system, same etch installation, I had the system upgraded to lenny in
3 steps:
   aptitude install apt aptitude
   aptitude upgrade
   apt-get dist-upgrade

(there is no typing error above, 2 first with aptitude, 3rd with apt-get)

Before running 'apt-get dist-upgrade', I checked if 'aptitude dist-upgrade'
would have removed the Xorg drivers and yes it would.

Some bug reports have already reported apt-get works better than aptitude. But
it seems that it won't look serious to recommend the use of a different package
management front-end for each release. And as aptitude was recommended in the 2
previous release, the ideas would be (see bug #489132) :
  - 1/ to stick at aptitude, find the possible issues and document these issues
in the release notes;
  - 2/ improve aptitude.

Note:
  Recommended front-end in the previous release-notes
    slink->potato : apt-get
    potato->woody : dselect
    woody->sarge : aptitude
    sarge->etch : aptitude
       
--
Giovanni



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[Steve Langasek]

On Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 11:37:56PM +0100, Giovanni Rapagnani wrote:
> On 05/11/08 15:08, Julien Cristau wrote:
>> Does apt-get dist-upgrade instead of aptitude work better?  X drivers
>> disappearing on upgrade is really not a viable option, for obvious
>> reasons.
> Yes, same system, same etch installation, I had the system upgraded to
> lenny in 3 steps:
>   aptitude install apt aptitude
>   aptitude upgrade
>   apt-get dist-upgrade

> (there is no typing error above, 2 first with aptitude, 3rd with apt-get)

> Before running 'apt-get dist-upgrade', I checked if 'aptitude
> dist-upgrade' would have removed the Xorg drivers and yes it would.

> Some bug reports have already reported apt-get works better than
> aptitude. But it seems that it won't look serious to recommend the use of
> a different package management front-end for each release. And as
> aptitude was recommended in the 2 previous release, the ideas would be
> (see bug #489132) :
>  - 1/ to stick at aptitude, find the possible issues and document these
> issues in the release notes;
>  - 2/ improve aptitude.

The reasons for prefering aptitude over apt-get no longer apply, and
aptitude in etch and later is a *worse* tool than it was in earlier
releases, because the maintainer has made the upgrade algorithm overly
clever to the point where it will now propose upgrade solutions that
directly conflict with what has been specified on the command line.

We should cut our losses and recommend apt-get again for upgrades from etch,
as apt is being maintained in a fashion much more appropriate for a core
piece of Debian infrastructure.

--
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@...                                     vorlon@...



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[Nicolas François]

Hello Giovanni,

On Sat, Nov 01, 2008 at 04:33:56PM +0100, Giovanni Rapagnani wrote:
> Starting with exactly the same etch installation on the same
> computer, and doing the upgrade as follows, has upgraded the system
> to lenny without problem.

Would you have the list of (Etch) packages installed on this computer?

I would like to make some tests.

Thanks in advance,
--
Nekral



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[Giovanni Rapagnani]

Hello Nicolas,

  I'm sorry, I haven't this information anymore.

Best regards.

On 24/08/09 00:27, Nicolas François wrote:

> Hello Giovanni,
>
> On Sat, Nov 01, 2008 at 04:33:56PM +0100, Giovanni Rapagnani wrote:
>> Starting with exactly the same etch installation on the same
>> computer, and doing the upgrade as follows, has upgraded the system
>> to lenny without problem.
>
> Would you have the list of (Etch) packages installed on this computer?
>
> I would like to make some tests.
>
> Thanks in advance,

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