[Bug 150252] Re: [master] tasksel removes all Ubuntu-desktop dependencies without confirmation dialog

[Yehezkel Bernat]

Still happens on Ubuntu 18.10. I removed openssh-server and noticed a
lot of dependencies of ubuntu-desktop removed. Running "apt install
ubuntu-desktop" after it installed 270 packages.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150252

Title:
  [master] tasksel removes all Ubuntu-desktop dependencies without
  confirmation dialog

Status in tasksel package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in tasksel source package in Hardy:
  Fix Released
Status in tasksel source package in Intrepid:
  Fix Released
Status in tasksel source package in Jaunty:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  When removing tasks, tasksel simply removes all packages listed for
  that task. This fails badly in some cases because many tasks have
  substantial overlap, so removing one task can inadvertently take out
  others. This is compounded because sometimes tasksel believes that a
  task is to be removed when it isn't, particularly when tasks share key
  packages.

  I fixed this in tasksel 2.73ubuntu17 in Jaunty, with a further
  performance optimisation in 2.73ubuntu18. I'm proposing this pair of
  changes as stable updates. Here are the changes made in Jaunty:

    http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/tasksel/ubuntu/revision/1402
    http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/tasksel/ubuntu/revision/1406

  Here are the changes for hardy-proposed and intrepid-proposed. Note
  that I'm fixing bug 236257 at the same time because it contributes to
  this problem: the clashing descriptions can make tasksel incorrectly
  believe that one or the other task is to be removed.

    http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/tasksel/hardy-
  proposed/revision/1354?compare_revid=1349

    http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-core-dev/tasksel/intrepid-
  proposed/revision/1388?compare_revid=1383

  TEST CASE: On Hardy, an easy way to verify this is to install the
  mail-server and print-server tasks, and then use 'sudo tasksel -t' to
  test removal of just one of those tasks; the openssl package is common
  to both, so if this bug is present then it will be removed even if you
  only remove one of mail-server or print-server. On Intrepid, you can
  conduct the same test by installing the openssh-server and virt-host
  tasks; the openssh-server package is common to both. I would recommend
  also conducting a test similar to that in the original report, namely
  on a system with the ubuntu-desktop task installed; try installing and
  removing tasks with 'sudo tasksel -t' and make sure that the commands
  produced are reasonable representations of what you asked for.

  I can't think of a great deal in the way of regression potential
  outside the scope of things that will be tested as part of verifying
  this update. tasksel is not all that widely used outside initial
  installation.

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