Package: aptitude Version: 0.8.13-3 Severity: wishlist Manpage mentions:
-r, --with-recommends Treat recommendations as dependencies when installing new packages (this overrides settings in /etc/apt/apt.conf and ~/.aptitude/config). This corresponds to the configuration option APT::Install-Recommends OK, but mention what to do if the package is already installed. One would think reinstall would work, but no, it doesn't get the recommendations. $ set fonts-noto $ aptitude --with-recommends -s install $@ fonts-noto is already installed at the requested version (20201225-1) fonts-noto is already installed at the requested version (20201225-1) Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used. $ aptitude --with-recommends -s reinstall $@ The following packages will be REINSTALLED: fonts-noto Need to get 0 B/21.1 kB of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used. Note: Using 'Simulate' mode. Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] Inst fonts-noto [20201225-1] (20201225-1 Debian:unstable [all]) Conf fonts-noto (20201225-1 Debian:unstable [all]) $ aptitude --with-recommends -s purge $@ The following packages will be REMOVED: fonts-noto{p} fonts-noto-core{pu} (D: fonts-noto) 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 43.6 MB will be freed. # dpkg -P fonts-noto Removing fonts-noto (20201225-1) ... # aptitude --with-recommends -s install fonts-noto The following NEW packages will be installed: fonts-noto fonts-noto-cjk{a} (D: fonts-noto-cjk-extra, R: fonts-noto) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-cjk) fonts-noto-cjk-extra{a} (R: fonts-noto, S: fonts-noto-cjk) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-cjk-extra) fonts-noto-extra{a} (R: fonts-noto, S: fonts-noto-ui-extra, E: fonts-noto-unhinted) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-extra) fonts-noto-mono{a} (R: fonts-noto, E: fonts-noto-extra, E: fonts-noto-unhinted) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-mono) fonts-noto-ui-core{a} (R: fonts-noto, E: fonts-noto-ui-extra) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-ui-core) fonts-noto-ui-extra{a} (R: fonts-noto) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-ui-extra) fonts-noto-unhinted{a} (R: fonts-noto) (fonts-noto R: fonts-noto-unhinted) 0 packages upgraded, 8 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 273 MB/273 MB of archives. After unpacking 729 MB will be used. Ah, finally. Actually this is a bug: --with-recommends plus reinstall should pull them in!