During an upgrade with aptitude:

dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of libgtk2.0-common:
 libgtk2.0-bin depends on libgtk2.0-common.
 libgtk2.0-0t64:amd64 depends on libgtk2.0-common.

dpkg: error processing package libgtk2.0-common (--purge):
 dependency problems - not removing
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libgtk2.0-common

Note that "apt install -f" has nothing to fix; this upgrade just
triggered a dpkg error (similar to bugs 1065603 and 1065625).

Moreover, like in these bugs, aptitude did not propose the removal
of libgtk2.0-common:

Aptitude 0.8.13: log report
Thu, Mar  7 2024 16:01:36 +0100

  IMPORTANT: this log only lists intended actions; actions which fail
  due to dpkg problems may not be completed.

Will install 5 packages, and remove 2 packages.
2048 B of disk space will be used
========================================
[...]
[HOLD, DEPENDENCIES] libgtk2.0-common:amd64 2.24.33-3
[...]
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libgail18t64:amd64 2.24.33-4
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libgtk2.0-0t64:amd64 2.24.33-4
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libgail18:amd64 2.24.33-3
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libgtk2.0-0:amd64 2.24.33-3
[...]
[UPGRADE] gtk2-engines-pixbuf:amd64 2.24.33-3 -> 2.24.33-4
[UPGRADE] libgail-common:amd64 2.24.33-3 -> 2.24.33-4
[UPGRADE] libgtk2.0-bin:amd64 2.24.33-3 -> 2.24.33-4
========================================

Control: reassign -1 aptitude,libgtk2.0-0t64
Control: tags -1 + moreinfo

I can confirm that version 2.24.33-4 of libgtk2.0-common, libgtk2.0-0t64
and libgtk2.0-bin are, in fact, installable (I have them installed
right now). I can't see any dependency relationships between them that
look suspicious.

If dpkg is removing libgtk2.0-common, then something must surely be
asking dpkg to remove it?

I notice that you have reported at least three bugs that are "the same
shape" with three unrelated libraries, which suggests that this might
be more of an aptitude problem than a GTK problem.
information about what actually happened.

Alternatively, if there is some heuristic about "try to keep packages
from the same source at the same version" being applied, perhaps waiting
for libgtk2.0-common_2.24.33-4 to become available from the
Architecture: all buildd would help?

    smcv

But if it were aptitude, I would assume that it would have
a REMOVE line with this package in its logs.

Some aptitude developer told me that installation issues were
in general due to declarations by packages.

I've attached the corresponding part of this file.
Note that libgtk2.0-common is mentioned only at the end
(what I had already given).

It was already available. And I installed it just after the error.
aptitude should obviously have proposed it for upgrade. I don't
know whether this is a bug in aptitude or something wrong in the
dependencies.

The same problem occurred on another machine, with other packages:

dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of libjte2:amd64:
 libisofs6t64:amd64 depends on libjte2.

dpkg: error processing package libjte2:amd64 (--purge):
 dependency problems - not removing
(Reading database ... 708510 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for libts0:amd64 (1.22-1+b1) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of libid3tag0:amd64:
 libimlib2t64:amd64 depends on libid3tag0 (>= 0.15.1b).

dpkg: error processing package libid3tag0:amd64 (--purge):
 dependency problems - not removing
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libjte2:amd64
 libid3tag0:amd64

And on a 3rd machine, where I used

  aptitude --log-file=/tmp/aptitude.log --log-level=info

------------------------------------------------------------------------
dpkg: dependency problems prevent removal of libb2-1:amd64:
 libqt6core6t64:amd64 depends on libb2-1 (>= 0.98.1).

dpkg: error processing package libb2-1:amd64 (--purge):
 dependency problems - not removing
(Reading database ... 795189 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for libts0:amd64 (1.22-1+b1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libb2-1:amd64
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the logs, this package libb2-1 appears only twice:

2024-03-13 01:33:14 [140549832112320] aptcache.cc:2323 INFO aptitude.apt.cache - aptitudeDepCache::sweep(): reinstating libb2-1:amd64

2024-03-13 01:34:48 [140549832112320] aptcache.cc:2323 INFO aptitude.apt.cache - aptitudeDepCache::sweep(): reinstating libb2-1:amd64

I've attached the compressed log file corresponding to this upgrade.

The packages that appear as REMOVE/INSTALL/UPGRADE in /var/log/aptitude:

[REMOVE, NOT USED] libatrildocument3:amd64 1.26.2-1
[REMOVE, NOT USED] libatrilview3:amd64 1.26.2-1
[REMOVE, NOT USED] libgxps2:amd64 0.3.2-3
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libatrildocument3t64:amd64 1.26.2-1.1+b1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libatrilview3t64:amd64 1.26.2-1.1+b1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libgxps2t64:amd64 0.3.2-4+b1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-cpp0t64:amd64 22.12.0-2.2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-glib8t64:amd64 22.12.0-2.2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-qt5-1t64:amd64 22.12.0-2.2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-qt6-3t64:amd64 22.12.0-2.2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler126t64:amd64 22.12.0-2.2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libqt6core6t64:amd64 6.4.2+dfsg-21.1+b1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libqt6dbus6t64:amd64 6.4.2+dfsg-21.1+b1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libqt6gui6t64:amd64 6.4.2+dfsg-21.1+b1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libts0t64:amd64 1.22-1.1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-cpp0v5:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-glib8:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-glib8-dbgsym:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-qt5-1:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler-qt6-3:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler126:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libpoppler126-dbgsym:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libqt6core6:amd64 6.4.2+dfsg-21
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libqt6dbus6:amd64 6.4.2+dfsg-21
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libqt6gui6:amd64 6.4.2+dfsg-21
[REMOVE, DEPENDENCIES] libts0:amd64 1.22-1+b1
[UPGRADE] atril:amd64 1.26.2-1 -> 1.26.2-1.1+b1
[UPGRADE] atril-common:amd64 1.26.2-1 -> 1.26.2-1.1
[UPGRADE] libpoppler-dev:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1 -> 22.12.0-2.2
[UPGRADE] libpoppler-private-dev:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1 -> 22.12.0-2.2
[UPGRADE] poppler-utils:amd64 22.12.0-2+b1 -> 22.12.0-2.2

Control: user release.debian.org@packages.debian.org
Control: usertags -1 time-t-downgrade


Downgrading this bug to important as it is currently a blocker
for aptitude migration due to the dual assignment, and even for
libgtk2.0-0t64, I'd argue getting it migrated is more important
than a aptitude ordering issue.