Tales from the Mancoosi frontline: experimenting with apt-get from experimental :-)

I wanted to install libreoffice today. To do so, I first tried using apt-get (Version: 0.8.14.1), and it proposes me a solution with the following characteristics:

338 upgraded, 181 newly installed, 81 to remove and 1880 not upgraded.

You can find the full solution, as well as the data to reproduce this upgrade scenario online at the Mancoosi Debian DUDF repository.

I was not satisfied, because I just wanted to upgrade libreoffice, not the whole system!

So I tried aptitude (Version: 0.6.3-3.2), which printed out a huge list of lines

The following NEW packages will be installed:
 libhunspell-1.3-0{a} 
The following packages will be REMOVED:
 gnome-audio{u} libev3{u} libgraphite3{u} libssh2-1-dev{u} 
The following packages will be upgraded:
 libreoffice libreoffice-core{b} 
2 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 4 to remove and 2286 not upgraded. 
Need to get 39.3 MB of archives. After unpacking 4,880 kB will be freed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libreoffice-gnome: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-draw: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-impress: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-math: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-gtk: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 python-uno: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-base-c ore: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-base: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-calc: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-officebean: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-filter-binfilter: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
 libreoffice-core: Conflicts: libreoffice-base (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                   Conflicts: libreoffice-calc (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                   Conflicts: libreoffice-draw (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                   Conflicts: libreoffice-gnome (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                   Conflicts: libreoffice-gtk (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                    Conflicts: libreoffice-impress (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                   Conflicts: libreoffice-officebean (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
                   Conflicts: libreoffice-writer (< 1:3.4.3-4) but 1:3.4.3-1 is installed and it is kept back.
 libreoffice-writer: Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:3.4.3-1) but 1:3.4.3-4 is to be installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:
     Remove the following packages:   
1)      gnome-office                   
2)      libreoffice                    
3)      libreoffice-base               
4)      libreoffice-base-core          
5)      libreoffice-calc               
6)      libreoffice-draw               
7)      libreoffice-emailmerge         
8)      libreoffice-filter-binfilter   
9)      libreoffice-gnome              
10)     libreoffice-gtk                
11)     libreoffice-impress            
12)     libreoffice-math               
13)     libreoffice-officebean         
14)     libreoffice-report-builder-bin 
15)     libreoffice-writer             
16)     openoffice.org                 
17)     openoffice.org-base            
18)     openoffice.org-calc            
19)     openoffice.org-draw            
20)     openoffice.org-emailmerge      
21)     openoffice.org-filter-binfilter
22)     openoffice.org-gnome           
23)     openoffice.org-gtk             
24)     openoffice.org-help-en-us      
25)     openoffice.org-impress         
26)     openoffice.org-math            
27)     openoffice.org-officebean      
28)     openoffice.org-writer          
29)     python-uno

Here too, you can find the full solution, as well as the data to reproduce this upgrade scenario online at the Mancoosi Debian DUDF repository.

Since this solution was not good enough yet, I resorted to the experimental version of apt-get which is available from Debian experimental. Coupled with apt-cudf, and with all the CUDF solvers packages in Debian after the Mancoosi International Solver Competition, it is really a relief!

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/scratch/apt-bzar/apt-0.8.16exp5/build/bin/apt-get install libreoffice --solver="aspcud"
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
CMD /usr/bin/aspcud /tmp/tmp.apt-cudf.OpCx6BKWfF/in-cudf /tmp/tmp.apt-cudf.OpCx6BKWfF/out-cudf -removed,-changed
Execute external solver... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
 libhunspell-1.3-0 libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-calc libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-filter-binfilter libreoffice-gnome
 libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-impress libreoffice-math libreoffice-officebean libreoffice-writer
Suggested packages:
 hunspell-dictionary libreoffice-help-3.4 libreoffice-l10n-3.4 hyphen-hyphenation-patterns openclipart-libreoffice libmyodbc odbc-postgresql libsqliteodbc tdsodbc
 mdbtools libreoffice-gcj libreoffice-report-builder libreoffice-evolution
The following packages will be REMOVED:
 libreoffice-emailmerge openoffice.org-emailmerge python-uno
The following NEW packages will be installed:
 libhunspell-1.3-0
The following packages will be upgraded:
 libreoffice libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-calc libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-filter-binfilter libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-gtk
 libreoffice-impress libreoffice-math libreoffice-officebean libreoffice-writer
13 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 3 to remove and 2272 not upgraded.