Dear Maintainer,

I attempted to install a package but apt reported it was in a broken state, it suggested "--fix-broken install"

# apt --fix-broken install
...
Continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 libopenmpi40 amd64 5.0.10-1 [2,018 kB]
Fetched 2,018 kB in 0s (5,938 kB/s)
Reading changelogs... Done
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
(Reading database… 641841 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack …/libopenmpi40_5.0.10-1_amd64.deb…
Unpacking libopenmpi40:amd64 (5.0.10-1)…
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libopenmpi40_5.0.10-1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmpi.so.40', which is also in package libopenmpi3t64:amd64 (4.1.6-13.3)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libopenmpi40_5.0.10-1_amd64.deb
Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
#

I can see that package libopenmpi3t64 is not currently in testing so I don't know how the system came to have it installed, but the problem is that it and libopenmpi40 both provide /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmpi.so.40 and there is no relevant Replaces or Breaks section.

I fixed it with:
# dpkg --unpack --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/libopenmpi40_5.0.10-1_amd64.deb

and hope this hasn't broken anything else.

I set the status to important as without manually fixing the package I was unable to install or upgrade any other packages.

Even if I did something wrong to arrive at this situation, I don't think two packages should be providing the same file without there being a relationship between them?

Control: severity -1 serious
be restored, due to various reasons good and bad it is not particularly
rare that people have stale old packages installed.

There are also no serious benefits when dropping such relationships.

cu
Adrian

severity 1143198 normal

thanks

I'm downgrading this to allow the package to transition. It can hit a
small number of serious users in upgrade (who have built local packages
in oldstable). The fix will be in the next upload (in git now).

Regards

Alastair

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
openmpi, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 1143198@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Alastair McKinstry <mckinstry@debian.org> (supplier of updated openmpi package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2026 07:43:42 +0100
Source: openmpi
Binary: libopenmpi-dev libopenmpi50 libopenmpi50-dbgsym openmpi-bin openmpi-bin-dbgsym openmpi-common openmpi-doc
Architecture: source arm64 all
Version: 6.0.0~rc2-3
Distribution: experimental
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian Science Maintainers <debian-science-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Alastair McKinstry <mckinstry@debian.org>
Description:
 libopenmpi-dev - high performance message passing library -- header files
 libopenmpi50 - high performance message passing library -- shared library
 openmpi-bin - high performance message passing library -- binaries
 openmpi-common - high performance message passing library -- common files
 openmpi-doc - high performance message passing library -- man pages
Closes: 1143198
Changes:
 openmpi (6.0.0~rc2-3) experimental; urgency=medium
 .
   * version.patch: Update VERSION file for ABI breakage
   * ABI change: libopenmpi40 -> libopenmpi50
   * Re-enable manpages
   * conf.patch: Fix bad-whatis-entry for manpages
   * Re-instate Breaks/Replaces libopenmpi3t64. Closes: #1143198
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This is an automated message from the Debian DFSG, Licensing & New
Packages Team.

The Debian NEW review of openmpi 6.0.0~rc2-3 has been completed.

Decision: ACCEPTED
Reviewer: Andrew McMillan

Review comment:

Hi,

Some interesting licensing observations which really should be resolved, but the package is accepted as-is since it is already in Debian...

A bunch of other minor notes you could do - the debian/watch thing might just be because this is an experimental packaging of a pre-release, etc.

1. [important] [licensing] Vendored 3rd-party/treematch library is CeCILL-B but debian/copyright covers it under the Open MPI licence (Files: *)

 - Files: `debian/copyright`, `3rd-party/treematch/LICENSE`, `3rd-party/treematch/fibo.c`, `3rd-party/treematch/uthash.h`, `3rd-party/treematch/tm_mt.c`, `docs/license/treematch.txt`
 - Evidence: `fibo.c`: "This software is governed by the CeCILL-B license under French law..." and `LICENSE` begins "CeCILL-B FREE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT"; `docs/license/treematch.txt` is the full CeCILL-B text (index.rst lists Treematch among "Redistributed code"). debian/copyright has no stanza for `3rd-party/treematch/*`, so every file falls under `Files: *` / `License: other`.
 - Problem: Treematch is a third-party codebase (Inria's TreeMatch) built into the shipped binaries (ompi/mca/topo/treematch links the 3rd-party library). Labeling it with the Open MPI per-file licence and OMPI copyright holders misstates its licence and removes CeCILL-B's attribution terms; `uthash.h` (BSD-2-Clause, Troy D.  Hanson) and `tm_mt.c` (BSD-3-Clause, Matsumoto et al.) carry separate notices. CeCILL-B is DFSG-free, so this is a d/copyright accuracy defect, not a non-free upload.
 - Fix: Add a `Files: 3rd-party/treematch/*` stanza with the Inria copyright and `License: CeCILL-B` (full text supplied in the file), plus separate BSD-2-Clause/BSD-3-Clause notes for uthash.h and tm_mt.c.

2. [important] [licensing] ptmalloc stanza claims FSF-2001/LGPL-2; actual files are public-domain dlmalloc and BSD-3-Clause-Open-MPI

 - Files: `debian/copyright`, `oshmem/mca/memheap/ptmalloc/malloc.c`, `oshmem/mca/memheap/ptmalloc/memheap_ptmalloc.c`
 - Evidence: debian/copyright: `Files: oshmem/mca/memheap/ptmalloc/*` with `Copyright: (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.` `License: LGPL-2`. malloc.c: "This is a version (aka dlmalloc) of malloc/free/realloc written by Doug Lea and released to the public domain" (adapted for ptmalloc3 by Wolfram Gloger); memheap_ptmalloc.c: `SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause-Open-MPI`.
 - Problem: No file in that directory is LGPL or FSF-2001: the vendored allocator is Doug Lea's public-domain dlmalloc, and the memheap glue files are Open MPI's BSD licence. The stanza overrides the catch-all with a wrong holder and licence for these files.
 - Fix: Split the stanza: `malloc.c` → `License: public-domain` (with the required explanation), `memheap_ptmalloc*` → `License: BSD-3-Clause-Open-MPI` under the Files:* licence, dropping the stale FSF/LGPL claim.

3. [minor] [licensing] Bundled hwloc/libevent tarballs claimed under the Open MPI licence by Files: * and left in the source

 - Files: `debian/copyright`, `3rd-party/hwloc-2.15.0.tar.gz`, `3rd-party/libevent-2.1.12-stable-ompi.tar.gz`
 - Evidence: Both tarballs are present in the source and in the orig tarball; `debian/copyright` has no stanza and no `Files-Excluded` for them, so `Files: *` / `License: other` (the Open MPI licence) covers them. The content is hwloc (BSD-3-Clause) and libevent (BSD), documented in `docs/license/hwloc.txt` and `docs/license/libevent.txt`.
 - Problem: The catch-all asserts the Open MPI licence for third-party BSD code, which is inaccurate; the tarballs are dead weight because the build uses `--with-hwloc=external --with-libevent=external`. All free, so not a DFSG violation.
 - Fix: Add a `Files: 3rd-party/*.tar.gz` stanza with the hwloc/libevent licence (and holders) or list them under `Files-Excluded` in debian/copyright (with a matching `debian/source/options` source-exclusion if repacking).

4. [minor] [licensing] Files: * Copyright list omits copyright holders present in the sources

 - Files: `debian/copyright`, `ompi/communicator/comm.c`, `configure.ac`, `config/opal_check_ze.m4`, `ompi/communicator/Makefile.am`
 - Evidence: comm.c: `Copyright (c) 2023-2025 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.`, `Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffrey M.  Squyres.`, `Copyright (c) 2026 Musawer Ahmad Saqif.`; configure.ac:31 and opal_check_ze.m4 carry AMD/JS copyright.  None of AMd, Squyres or Saqif appear in the `Files: *` Copyright field (NVIDIA listed only to 2024, BULL S.A.S. only 2009-2015).
 - Problem: Copyright holders named in file notices are not represented in debian/copyright.
 - Fix: Add the missing holders (and refresh years, e.g. NVIDIA 2026, BULL S.A.S. 2025) to the `Files: *` Copyright field.

5. [minor] [packaging] Two patches ship malformed DEP-3 headers

 - Files: `debian/patches/oac-patches.patch`, `debian/patches/version.patch`
 - Evidence: oac-patches.patch begins `Description: <short summary of the patch>` followed by the whole `TODO:` template and a stray `pmix (5.0.2-1) UNRELEASED` changelog block; version.patch has two `Description:` lines (`Description: Fix version of ` and `Description: update VERSION file...`).
 - Problem: Poor patch metadata for a sponsored upload; oac-patches documentation does not describe its real purpose (vendoring the config/oac autoconf submodule).
 - Fix: Clean the header of oac-patches.patch (real Description, Origin/Forwarded, Last-Update) and merge the duplicated Description in version.patch.

6. [minor] [packaging] debian/watch is in the old version 4 format

 - Files: `debian/watch`
 - Evidence: `version=4`
 - Problem: Version 5 is the current format of `debian/watch`.
 - Fix: Convert it to version 5; a mechanical conversion is included below.

================================================================================
Version: 5

Source: https://www.open-mpi.org/software/ompi/
Matching-Pattern: .*/.*/openmpi-([\d+\.]+)@ARCHIVE_EXT@
================================================================================

7. [minor] [packaging] uscan finds only upstream versions older than the packaged one

 - Files: `debian/watch`
 - Evidence: upstream `5.0.11`, packaged `6.0.0~rc2`
 - Problem: The newest version uscan finds with `debian/watch` is older than the version in `debian/changelog`, so the watch file does not find the packaged release: it may look in the wrong place, or the versions may need mangling to compare.
 - Fix: Check where `debian/watch` looks and how it mangles versions.


Thanks!

Full review details: https://dfsg-new-queue.debian.org/reviews/openmpi