unattended-upgrade removed kubuntu-desktop and related packages

With todays unattended-upgrade the same happened again: all packages related to kubuntu-desktop were automatically uninstalled in the course of the installation of the kde updates (to 4.8.4a).

If anybody has any idea how to track the cause down please give advice. I have no better idea than a reinstall to work around it.

unattended-upgrades.log has this:
    2012-07-20 10:09:11,182 INFO Packages that are upgraded: akregator <long list>
    2012-07-20 10:09:11,188 INFO Das dpkg-Protokoll wird in »/var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades-dpkg_2012-07-20_10:09:11.182564.log« gespeichert
    2012-07-20 10:35:00,879 INFO Alle Aktualisierungen wurden installiert

but this excerpt from unattended-upgrades-dpkg_2012-07-20_10:09:11.182564.log shows the packages were upgraded and then uninstalled (grep kmail unatt...564.log):
     Vorbereitung zum Ersetzen von kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1 (durch .../kmail_4%3a4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3_amd64.deb) ...
    Ersatz für kmail wird entpackt ...
    kmail (4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3) wird eingerichtet ...
    Entfernen von kmail ...

also seen in $grep kmail /var/log/dpkg.log
   2012-07-20 10:28:59 upgrade kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:28:59 status half-configured kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1
   2012-07-20 10:28:59 status unpacked kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1
   2012-07-20 10:28:59 status half-installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1
   2012-07-20 10:28:59 status half-installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1
   2012-07-20 10:28:59 status half-installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.1
   2012-07-20 10:29:02 status unpacked kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:29:02 status unpacked kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:29:21 configure kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3 <keine>
   2012-07-20 10:29:21 status unpacked kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:29:21 status half-configured kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:29:24 status installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:32:27 status installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:32:27 remove kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3 <keine>
   2012-07-20 10:32:27 status half-configured kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:32:27 status half-installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:32:27 status half-installed kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:32:30 status config-files kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3
   2012-07-20 10:32:30 status config-files kmail 4:4.8.4a-0ubuntu0.3

is it a problem with
    Unattended-Upgrades::MinimalSteps "true";
?

trivial sources.list

Hi Ernst,

I just tried to reproduce this in a clean chroot. I installed precise and kubuntu-desktop there and then added precise-{security,updates} and ran:
# unattended-upgrade --debug --minimal_upgrade_steps
but I did not get any removals there.

If you still have /var/log/apt/history.log that might be helpful.

Having a way to reproduce this would be awsome, I can think that the minial-upgrades step mode might cause a issue like this, but a reliable way to reproduce would help identify and eliminate the root of the problem.

I added some defensive code now to prevent this, but it will fail - having a way to reproduce could help understand how to entirely prevent.

here is the /var/log/apt/history.log covering both removal events (2012-07-03 and 2012-07-20)

Yes, trying to find a way to reproduce this would be the next step.

The last few kde updates did not do anything bad to my system. So I think one important component of a setup to reproduce the issue would be a mirror of the precise archive with the state of 2012-07-20.

The other component would be either
- a clean installation updated to the package state of 2012-07-19
- or: a copy of my installation, somehow brought back to the state of 2012-07-19, using the info from log files.
This would require a view of the precise archives at 2012-07-19.

Is this at all possible?

This bug was fixed in the package unattended-upgrades - 0.79.3ubuntu4

---------------
unattended-upgrades (0.79.3ubuntu4) quantal; urgency=low

  * lp:~mvo/unattended-upgrades/minimal-step-paranonia-lp1020680:
    - ensure the blacklist/origin constrains are never violated for
      some corner cases in the minimal-upgrade mode (LP: #1020680)
 -- Michael Vogt <email address hidden> Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:08:01 +0200