Inconsistent package state error message is misleading

Talking about rebuilding here is incorrect. Additional software need to be installed or removed. This is not just a rebuild. The resolver of apt isn't always perfect and people like to mix repositories - so this action could result in removing or installing a large amount of packages. In the end you would also need a dependency confirmation dialog here. Otherwise you risk breaking the system of the user silently.

Thanks for pointing that out, Sebastian -- I had the two states muddled. With help from Michael, I've now corrected the specification. "Some software is not installed correctly, and may not run properly. You need to authenticate to repair the installation." Is that reasonable?

It just happened to me, over and over again, while trying to install Mistelix (it installed properly, so far as I can tell). I'm on Maverick, fully updated.

I have got a bad feeling about using the authentication dialog as a confirmation dialog. If the system is configured to allow all package operations to an user automatically you won't get any confirmation at all. The operation would just start.

The broken cache is really a nasty problem that needs to be fixed before you can continue installing/removing any other software. So a small icon is not very discoverable. Why don't you show an in-app-notifcation below the toolbar with a small text and a button "Repair system".

Sebastian, fair enough, thanks. I've separated the confirmation alert from the PolicyKit alert in the design, and specified that it should block any software installation. Would you be able to move the confirmation alert out of USC into Aptdaemon and update the design?

This bug was fixed in the package software-center - 5.5.1.1

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software-center (5.5.1.1) raring; urgency=low

  * Fix FTBFS in the clean target by build-depending on python-dbus,
    python-aptdaemon, python-gi, python-xapian, and python-xdg.
 -- Adam Conrad <email address hidden> Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:08:21 -0700

This has been fixed a long time ago. To be sure, I checked it again in 14.04, and I get the following behavour:

a confirmation alert appears. It has the text 'New software can’t be installed, because there is a problem with the software currently installed. Do you want to repair this problem now?'"