Apt-get problem ?

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, Oct 04, 2004 at 12:34:11PM -0400, Fraser Campbell wrote:
> On Monday 04 October 2004 11:45, Jim Taylor wrote:
> 
> > dpkg: error
> > processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kdelibs-data_4%3a3.3.0-2_all.deb
> > (--unpack):
> >  trying to overwrite `/usr/share/mimelnk/audio/x-ms-wma.desktop', which is
> > also in package kmplayer
> > dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
> > Errors were encountered while processing:
> >  /var/cache/apt/archives/kdelibs-data_4%3a3.3.0-2_all.deb
> > E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
> > root at 0[jimt]#
> 
> A bunch of packages require kdelibs-data since that can't be installed your 
> upgrades cannot proceed.
> 
> It tells you the exact reason why the upgrade is failing "trying to overwrite 
> `/usr/share/mimelnk/audio/x-ms-wma.desktop', which is also in package 
> kmplayer" ... dpkg (by default) will not overwrite files belonging to 
> packages other than the one being upgraded.
> 
> One solution, which I always use and which has yet to bite me, is:
> 
>     dpkg -i --force-overwrite \
>         /var/cache/apt/archives/kdelibs-data_4%3a3.3.0-2_all.deb
> 
> That should install kdelibs-data, then do the "apt-get -f install" followed by 
> whatever you were initially trying to do.  The joy of unstable packages in 
> transition is that this can crop up more than a few times ... i.e. be 
> prepared to install a few more individual packages with the --force-overwrite 
> option.

The MUCH safer option would be to uninstall the conflicting package
kmplayer, temporarily, perhaps if necesary using dpkg -r --force-depends
kmplayer so other packages dependancies don't cause a problem.

--force-overwrite is a very unwise thing to play with and should only be
used if the package maintainer or a debian upgrade note explicitly says
it should be used.

--force-depends doesn't do anything that the package system won't fix
itself very quickly by installing the missing dependancy.

Most likely the new kmplayer won't contain that file anymore, and it's
simple a mistake that it didn't unpack kmplayer before kdelibs-data in
this case, or it should have conflicted with kmplayer.  Worth chekcing
if a bug report is already files for this problem, and if not, file one.

Lennart Sorensen
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