[Bug 921453] [NEW] Aptitude does not show reliably if a package is installed

[Binarus]

Public bug reported:

I have set up Ubuntu 11.10 x64 "minimal install" in a virtual machine,
and installed some software. I didn't use the predefined software sets
like "server" or "developer", but installed single packages (and their
depencies, of course) one by one. I did not alter sources.list and did
no special things like pinning or so. For installing these packages, I
used no other tool than aptitude.

By accident, I have found found the following misbehaviour of aptitude
(I have cut every line after the second row):

root at baldur:~# aptitude search sasl2
p   cyrus-sasl2-dbg
p   cyrus-sasl2-doc
p   cyrus-sasl2-heimdal-dbg
p   cyrus-sasl2-mit-dbg
p   libsasl2-2
p   libsasl2-dev
p   libsasl2-modules
p   libsasl2-modules-gssapi-heimdal
p   libsasl2-modules-gssapi-mit
p   libsasl2-modules-ldap
p   libsasl2-modules-otp
p   libsasl2-modules-sql
p   sasl2-bin
root at baldur:~# aptitude search sasl2-bin
i   sasl2-bin
root at baldur:~#

In other words, "aptitude search sasl2" tells that sasl2-bin is NOT
installed, but "aptitude search sasl2-bin" tells that sasl2-bin IS
installed.

This may relate to the following bug report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/238905

But for the guy who reported it the problem mysteriously vanished
without by itself, whereas in my case the problem is there for some days
now, and after having installed / removed quite a bunch of software.

I am not sure if it's just a problem with aptitude's output of if there
is a deeper problem. I think someone should investigate because
misbehaviour of the package management system easily could render a box
unusable.

I am not sure how this can be reproduced. Perhaps, it's as easy as
installing sasl2-bin and no other sasl components and then repeating the
commands shown above. I would be very interested if other people are
experiencing this bug.

Regards,

Binarus

** Affects: aptitude (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/921453

Title:
  Aptitude does not show reliably if a package is installed

Status in “aptitude” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have set up Ubuntu 11.10 x64 "minimal install" in a virtual machine,
  and installed some software. I didn't use the predefined software sets
  like "server" or "developer", but installed single packages (and their
  depencies, of course) one by one. I did not alter sources.list and did
  no special things like pinning or so. For installing these packages, I
  used no other tool than aptitude.

  By accident, I have found found the following misbehaviour of aptitude
  (I have cut every line after the second row):

  root at baldur:~# aptitude search sasl2
  p   cyrus-sasl2-dbg
  p   cyrus-sasl2-doc
  p   cyrus-sasl2-heimdal-dbg
  p   cyrus-sasl2-mit-dbg
  p   libsasl2-2
  p   libsasl2-dev
  p   libsasl2-modules
  p   libsasl2-modules-gssapi-heimdal
  p   libsasl2-modules-gssapi-mit
  p   libsasl2-modules-ldap
  p   libsasl2-modules-otp
  p   libsasl2-modules-sql
  p   sasl2-bin
  root at baldur:~# aptitude search sasl2-bin
  i   sasl2-bin
  root at baldur:~#

  In other words, "aptitude search sasl2" tells that sasl2-bin is NOT
  installed, but "aptitude search sasl2-bin" tells that sasl2-bin IS
  installed.

  This may relate to the following bug report:
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/238905

  But for the guy who reported it the problem mysteriously vanished
  without by itself, whereas in my case the problem is there for some
  days now, and after having installed / removed quite a bunch of
  software.

  I am not sure if it's just a problem with aptitude's output of if
  there is a deeper problem. I think someone should investigate because
  misbehaviour of the package management system easily could render a
  box unusable.

  I am not sure how this can be reproduced. Perhaps, it's as easy as
  installing sasl2-bin and no other sasl components and then repeating
  the commands shown above. I would be very interested if other people
  are experiencing this bug.

  Regards,

  Binarus

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