I endorse throwing it into ubuntu-base, which is code for "mysterious stuff you don't understand". I would also support just having a new "backwards compatibility" section to carry oldlibs.
As for why dummy packages exist, it's not just to handle old dependencies that haven't been updated. Sometimes apt's resolver needs a transitional package because it refuses to uninstall a package on a purported upgrade to that very package. So two upgrades have to happen: wine1.4 (version 1.4-1) upgrades to dummy wine1.4 (version 1.6-2), which depends on real wine1.6. One LTS release later, when I've removed wine1.4 from the archive and know that all wine1.4 are dummy packages, I can then have wine1.6 (version 1.6-2) which conflicts with wine1.4 and uninstalls it properly. One more LTS later I can remove those crufty bits from the metadata. So, yes, a dummy package will thus linger for upwards of 2 years. Precise had wine1.4. Trusty will need a wine1.4 dummy package. 16.04 LTS can finally get rid of it using breaks/replaces. 18.04 LTS can avoid mentioning wine1.4 entirely. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1166230 Title: Updater lists many transitional dummy packages To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/1166230/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
