[Bug 2036761] Re: [mantic] ppa-purge no longer purges what add-apt-repository adds

Wed Nov 22 20:20:10 UTC 2023

Below commands does nothing on freshly installed Ubuntu MATE 23.10, but
worked for years before.

```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys
...
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
...
$ apt-cache policy $(dpkg -l | grep ppa1 | awk '{print $2}')
xserver-common:
  Installed: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Candidate: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main i386 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main i386 Packages
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main i386 Packages
xserver-xorg-core:
  Installed: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Candidate: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
xserver-xorg-legacy:
  Installed: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Candidate: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
...
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

$ sudo ppa-purge ppa:nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys
Updating packages lists
PPA to be removed: nrbrtx xorg-hotkeys
Package revert list generated:
 xserver-common/mantic xserver-xorg-core/mantic xserver-xorg-legacy/mantic

Updating packages lists
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
xserver-common is already the newest version (2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1).
xserver-xorg-core is already the newest version (2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1).
xserver-xorg-legacy is already the newest version (2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1).
Selected version '2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1' (PPA with patched xserver-xorg to fix bug 865:23.10/mantic [all]) for 'xserver-common'
Selected version '2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1' (PPA with patched xserver-xorg to fix bug 865:23.10/mantic [amd64]) for 'xserver-xorg-core'
Selected version '2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1' (PPA with patched xserver-xorg to fix bug 865:23.10/mantic [amd64]) for 'xserver-xorg-legacy'
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
PPA purged successfully

$ apt-cache policy $(dpkg -l | grep ppa1 | awk '{print $2}')
xserver-common:
  Installed: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Candidate: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main i386 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main i386 Packages
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main i386 Packages
xserver-xorg-core:
  Installed: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Candidate: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
xserver-xorg-legacy:
  Installed: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Candidate: 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1
  Version table:
 *** 2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.2ppa1 500
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/nrbrtx/xorg-hotkeys/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security/main amd64 Packages
     2:21.1.7-3ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic/main amd64 Packages

$ grep ^deb -r /etc/apt --include=*.list
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic-updates main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic universe
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic-updates universe
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic-updates multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ mantic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security main restricted
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security universe
/etc/apt/sources.list:deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu mantic-security multiverse

```

So PPA is not removed at all, packages are at their latest versions.
You have incosistency between APT database and real sources.list.

Do you really recommend to downgrade packages manually? 
The PPA may contain LibreOffice, which is very hard to downgrade!

<angry-mode>
I was using Ubuntu since 6.06, so I believe I have reasonable authoritative opinion.

Really you are breaking PPAs culture by breaking ppa-purge. 
This utility was created in 2009 year by Robert Hooker aka @sarvatt (see https://git.launchpad.net/ppa-purge/log/?ofs=50 and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Sarvatt ). It worked great for years!
It was used very often along with Y PPA Manager (since 2010, see https://launchpad.net/~webupd8team/+archive/ubuntu/y-ppa-manager).
But for now ppa-purge is useless. So PPAs are becoming useless and in the long perspective this will mean a death of Ubuntu, thus people will use vanilla-blend Debian without bells and whistles.

Thank you, new-age programmers who forgot their own Ubuntu history! 
Keep doing! Drop debs, put Snaps everywhere and make new Canonical Windows 11++.
</angry-mode>

Really, please rethink this problem and fix this bug along with bug
2037210 before 24.04 LTS release!

-- 
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2036761

Title:
  [mantic] ppa-purge no longer purges what add-apt-repository adds

Status in ppa-purge package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in software-properties package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed
Status in ppa-purge source package in Mantic:
  Triaged
Status in software-properties source package in Mantic:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Test Case
  ---------
  From Ubuntu 23.10:

  sudo apt install hello
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jbicha/temp
  sudo apt upgrade

  apt policy hello

  sudo ppa-purge ppa:jbicha/temp

  apt policy hello
  reveals that the PPA version of hello is still installed

  Also /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jbicha-ubuntu-temp-mantic.sources
  is still present and active

  What Should Happen
  ------------------
  ppa-purge should disable the PPA and reinstall any PPA packages with the version apt currently sees.

  Background
  ----------
  add-apt-repository creates deb822 sources lists, starting in Ubuntu 23.10

  https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/spec-apt-deb822-sources-by-
  default/29333

  Other Info
  ----------
  add-apt-repository has a --remove option

  But it does not do the reinstall part which is important
  Honestly, that feature is so important, I suggest that add-apt-repository take over the functionality of ppa-purge so that we always get the ppa-purge behavior

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