[SOLVED] update-alternatives warning: broken link group?

GNUser · 2017-05-30 18:49:12

Does anybody know the meaning of the two warnings below? I think they are benign since everything on my system is working as far as I can tell, but if something is truly broken then I'd like to fix it for good housekeeping's sake.

bruno@devuan:~$ sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser
There are 2 choices for the alternative x-www-browser (providing /usr/bin/x-www-browser).

  Selection    Path                  Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0            /usr/bin/firefox-esr   70        auto mode
  1            /usr/bin/chromium      40        manual mode
  2            /usr/bin/firefox-esr   70        manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: # I press Enter to keep current choice
update-alternatives: warning: forcing reinstallation of alternative /usr/bin/firefox-esr because link group x-www-browser is broken
update-alternatives: warning: not replacing /usr/share/man/man1/x-www-browser.1.gz with a link

P.S. This happens with several applications, but not all. Configuring x-terminal-emulator, for instance, produces no warnings.

Last edited by GNUser (2017-05-30 20:18:07)

GNUser · 2017-05-30 19:43:19

The update-alternatives man page said this command would fix all breakages...

yes '' | sudo update-alternatives --force --all

...and, indeed, all the warnings went away after running the command Nevertheless, it would still be nice to understand what the warnings meant.

Last edited by GNUser (2017-05-30 19:44:22)

smoki · 2017-05-30 20:07:58

It means user error, i guess you do something wrongly with it before . But take this seriosly, as update-alternatives is part of dpkg so package managment, when you installing something some package which want alternative update this also. So any error there if you make let say some typing mistake you must fix as later with dpkg and apt and of course apt GUIs like synaptic might be affected and can't update something if it broken.

Basically any warning like that you must fix.

Last edited by smoki (2017-05-30 20:12:12)

GNUser · 2017-05-30 20:16:32

Thanks, smoki. Yes, I figured the culprit was between the screen and the chair

I will keep an eye on this and make sure it runs warning- and error-free. If I figure out what I did to cause the breakage and if it turns out to be something interesting, I'll post it here.

Last edited by GNUser (2017-05-31 19:03:02)

greenjeans · 2017-05-31 18:22:43

I usually just delete anything that gives me crap like that.

There are no errors, just cruft that hasn't been RM'ed yet.

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#1 2017-05-30 18:49:12

[SOLVED] update-alternatives warning: broken link group?

#2 2017-05-30 19:43:19

Re: [SOLVED] update-alternatives warning: broken link group?

#3 2017-05-30 20:07:58

Re: [SOLVED] update-alternatives warning: broken link group?

#4 2017-05-30 20:16:32

Re: [SOLVED] update-alternatives warning: broken link group?

#5 2017-05-31 18:22:43

Re: [SOLVED] update-alternatives warning: broken link group?

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