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durham

Member

Registered: 2021-09-04

Posts: 36  

a question on hidden dependencies

The package libdbus-glib is dependency of firefox-esr, according to apt-get.

When I type apt-get install libdbus-glib, I get this:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package libdbus-glib

Ah, so there is no such package.  Acknowledged.

Curious, I typed apt-get firefox-esr, and got this:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libdbus-glib-1-2
Suggested packages:
  fonts-stix | otf-stix pulseaudio
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firefox-esr libdbus-glib-1-2
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/63.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 237 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Selecting previously unselected package libdbus-glib-1-2:amd64.
(Reading database ... 200138 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libdbus-glib-1-2_0.112-3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libdbus-glib-1-2:amd64 (0.112-3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package firefox-esr.
Preparing to unpack .../firefox-esr_115.5.0esr-1~deb12u1_amd64.deb ...
Adding 'diversion of /usr/bin/firefox to /usr/bin/firefox.real by firefox-esr'
Unpacking firefox-esr (115.5.0esr-1~deb12u1) ...
Setting up libdbus-glib-1-2:amd64 (0.112-3) ...
Setting up firefox-esr (115.5.0esr-1~deb12u1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox-esr to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox-esr to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser) in auto mode
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9+deb12u3) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.70+nmu1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26-1) ...

So how does firefox successfully pull in a dependency that does not exist?

Thank you.

Last edited by durham (2023-11-24 13:21:14)

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A dangerous technology is one that is available only to an elite group  -- George M. Ewing, Analog, April 1977

steve_v

Member

Registered: 2018-01-11

Posts: 343  

Re: a question on hidden dependencies

The package libdbus-glib is dependency of firefox-esr, according to apt-get.

No,

  libdbus-glib-1-2

is a dependency of firefox-esr.

So how does firefox successfully pull in a dependency that does not exist?

It doesn't. libdbus-glib-1-2 is a perfectly valid package:

$ apt show libdbus-glib-1-2
Package: libdbus-glib-1-2
Version: 0.110-6
Priority: optional
Section: oldlibs
Source: dbus-glib
Maintainer: Utopia Maintenance Team <pkg-utopia-maintainers@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Installed-Size: 216 kB
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14), libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.9.14), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.40)
Homepage: https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/DBusBindings
Tag: role::shared-lib
Download-Size: 73.0 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: no
APT-Sources: http://deb.devuan.org/merged chimaera/main amd64 Packages

IOW,

a question on hidden dependencies

s/hidden/mistyped/g
FTFY.

Last edited by steve_v (2023-11-24 13:35:12)

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Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.