[Bug 862776] Re: apt-get --install-suggests install is a NOOP

[TJ]

After doing some tests inside and outside a chroot I've found the
following.

1. If a package is not currently installed then "--install-suggests"
will work:

$ sudo apt-get --install-suggests install git

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  cvs cvsps emacs emacs23 emacs23-bin-common emacs23-common emacs23-el emacsen-common fgetty git-arch git-cvs git-daemon-run
  git-doc git-el git-email git-gui git-man git-svn gitk gitweb libauthen-sasl-perl libcxxtools-dev libcxxtools7
  libdbd-sqlite3-perl libdbi-perl libgssapi-perl libm17n-0 libnet-daemon-perl libnet-smtp-ssl-perl libotf0 libplrpc-perl
  libsvn-perl libterm-readkey-perl libtntnet-dev libtntnet9 m17n-contrib m17n-db m17n-docs mksh rcs runit ssh tcl tk tk8.5 tla
  tla-doc tntnet tntnet-demos tntnet-doc tntnet-runtime
Suggested packages:
  httpd-cgi libcgi-fast-perl socklog-run
The following NEW packages will be installed
  cvs cvsps emacs emacs23 emacs23-bin-common emacs23-common emacs23-el emacsen-common fgetty git git-arch git-cvs git-daemon-run
  git-doc git-el git-email git-gui git-man git-svn gitk gitweb libauthen-sasl-perl libcxxtools-dev libcxxtools7
  libdbd-sqlite3-perl libdbi-perl libgssapi-perl libm17n-0 libnet-daemon-perl libnet-smtp-ssl-perl libotf0 libplrpc-perl
  libsvn-perl libterm-readkey-perl libtntnet-dev libtntnet9 m17n-contrib m17n-db m17n-docs mksh rcs runit ssh tcl tk tk8.5 tla
  tla-doc tntnet tntnet-demos tntnet-doc tntnet-runtime
0 upgraded, 52 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 56.4 MB/63.1 MB of archives.
After this operation, 165 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 


2. If a package is already installed then installing (upgrading to) a newer version over the top will not honour the "--install-suggests" option:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ apt-cache policy git

git:
  Installed: 1:1.7.9.5-1
  Candidate: 1:1.7.11.1-0ppa1~precise3
  Version table:
     1:1.7.11.1-0ppa1~precise3 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/git-core/ppa/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
 *** 1:1.7.9.5-1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ sudo apt-get --install-suggests install git

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  git-man
Suggested packages:
  git-daemon-run git-daemon-sysvinit git-doc git-el git-arch git-cvs git-svn git-email git-gui gitk gitweb
The following packages will be upgraded:
  git git-man
2 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/8,030 kB of archives.
After this operation, 197 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? 

3. Doing a reinstall will not honour the "--install-suggests" option:

$ sudo apt-get --install-suggests --reinstall install git
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/6,087 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 444159 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace git 1:1.7.9.5-1 (using .../git_1%3a1.7.9.5-1_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement git ...
Setting up git (1:1.7.9.5-1) ...

The behaviour when the package is already installed is unexpected - one
would expect the flag to be honoured when using the "install" command.

** Changed in: apt (Ubuntu)
       Status: Invalid => Confirmed

** Changed in: apt (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => Low

-- 
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/862776

Title:
  apt-get  --install-suggests install  is a NOOP

Status in “apt” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  apt-get  --install-suggests install  is supposed to include the
  Suggested packages in the list of packages to install, but instead it
  does nothing (i.e., no error is raised regarding command line usage or
  other syntax error)

  Same behavior with --install-suggests, install-suggests=true, or -o
  'APT::Install-Suggests=true'

  $ sudo apt-get  -o 'APT::Install-Suggests=true'  install  sun-java6-bin
  Reading package lists... Done
  Building dependency tree
  Reading state information... Done
  The following extra packages will be installed:
    gsfonts-x11 java-common odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 sun-java6-jre tightvncserver tzdata unixodbc
  Suggested packages:
    default-jre equivs sun-java6-plugin ia32-sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-kochi-mincho
    ttf-sazanami-mincho ttf-arphic-uming tightvnc-java libmyodbc odbc-postgresql tdsodbc unixodbc-bin
  The following NEW packages will be installed:
    gsfonts-x11 java-common odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre tightvncserver unixodbc
  The following packages will be upgraded:
    tzdata
  1 upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 42 not upgraded.
  Need to get 36.9 MB of archives.
  After this operation, 104 MB of additional disk space will be used.
  Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
  Package: apt 0.8.13.2ubuntu4.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.48-generic 2.6.38.8
  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Thu Sep 29 15:51:35 2011
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=en_US:en
   PATH=(custom, user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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