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Bug#366785: marked as done (apt: Refuses to install packages with empty headers in the control file (Depends, Conflicts, etc))

Your message dated Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:08:23 +0200
with message-id <49233CD7.8000609@gmail.com>
and subject line closing #366785
has caused the Debian Bug report #366785,
regarding apt: Refuses to install packages with empty headers in the control file (Depends, Conflicts, etc)
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

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-- 
366785: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=366785
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact owner@bugs.debian.org with problems
--- Begin Message --- 
Package: apt
Version: 0.6.44
Severity: normal


Hi 

When downloading an unofficial Debian package and including it into a local
repository, I attempted to refresh the package list using "apt-get update". I
received this error at the end of the process. 

Reading package lists... Error!
E: Problem parsing dependency Depends
E: Error occurred while processing checkinstall (NewVersion1)
E: Problem with MergeList
/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_deb-i386_current_unofficial-sid30_binary_Packages
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

After further investigation, it seems that "apt-get update" does not like
packages that contain blank control fields (such as Depends and Conflicts).
Removing the blank fields and re-building the package resolves the problem.
The errors received are definitely solely related to apt, as the original package can be
manually installed with dpkg without incident. 

No official Debian packages have been seen with blank headers to date, and
homegrown custom packages can easily be modified to remove the irrelevant
headers. However, this bug is more of a problem as it may seem as it renders apt unable to
install many existing custom-made packages made by third-party authors.

Hopefully this information is helpful. Thanks

Regards,

Barrie

-- Package-specific info:

-- (no /etc/apt/preferences present) --


-- (/etc/apt/sources.list present, but not submitted) --


-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.16-1-k7
Locale: LANG=en_GB, LC_CTYPE=en_GB (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii  libc6                       2.3.6-7      GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libgcc1                     1:4.1.0-1+b1 GCC support library
ii  libstdc++6                  4.1.0-1+b1   The GNU Standard C++ Library v3

Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii  debian-archive-keyring        2006.01.18 GnuPG archive keys of the Debian a

-- no debconf information

--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message --- 
Hello Barrie.

Debian has strong specifications on the control file in .deb packages.
Debian policy, section 5.1 [1], last phrase says explicitly that empty fields are not
allowed. Third parties have to fix their packages on their own. The fact that dpkg allows
to install such a packages can be viewed as workaround to deal with such packages.

Bug closed.

[1] http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html

-- 
Eugene V. Lyubimkin aka JackYF, JID: jackyf.devel(maildog)gmail.com
Ukrainian C++ developer, Debian APT contributor

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