If we want to implement this feature, the logical way forward is to combine libapt-pkg and libapt-inst, either by linking them together or combining them into one library. Jason has said that this is undesirable, though I'm not clear on the reasons why they were created separately in the first place.
It _might_ also be possible to implement the needed bits in a separate command-line program, though I haven't checked whether the interfaces would support this. -- - mdz
