Apt cache repair "In Progress" text is "Repairing broken deps"

This isn't just a non-dangerous rebuild of the cache/catalog. This can be an invasive action on the system - it includes installing and removing software. E.g. "Repairing installed software" would be a better one.

Thanks, I didn't know that it involved installing or removing software. "Reparing installed software" is a great suggestion.

I don't think this is important enough to break existing translations for Maverick.

Was I confused, then, in writing <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#broken-catalog>? Is there a "cache broken" problem, which can be repaired non-invasively, that is separate from the problem caused by "sudo apt-get install 4g8 && sudo dpkg --force-depends -r libnet1"? Or are they one and the same situation as far as apt is concerned?

See also bug 635101.

It would still be helpful to have an answer to my question of a year ago. :-) Sebastian? Michael?

Indead:

1. The dependencies are unsatisfied/broken (this is the case which you described originally)

2. The installation of package failed and is incomplete

3. The "binary" cache which gets build from the dpkg status and the Package lists from the repositories is damaged.

I could add a property on the daemon dbus interface of aptdaemon "CacheBroken". But you also have got a package cache instance in software center which also provides this information. So the question is if you want to show the error outside of software center as a kind of error dialog or only to show this in software center.

If there are broken dependencies you should call the FixBrokenDepends of aptdaemon. But this action can result in installing or removing a lot of packages. Especially in the case of mixed or third party repositories. So you should show the changes to the user beforehand.

Aptdaemon tries to recover from cancelled or failed installations on every install/remove/upgrade transaction. So this is handled automatically. But if the recover action fails an error message gets shown even if the secondary installation was successful.

Thanks, Sebastian. I suppose any of those three errors could occur when USC isn't even running, right? For example, as the result of using --force-depends at the terminal, or if the computer loses power during an update, or something like that.

Therefore, any prompt for fixing any of those problems (e.g. listing which packages need to be installed or removed), and the progress bar showing them being fixed, should really be in its own aptdaemon dialog, outside of USC. For example, you might need to do it before installing software updates in Update Manager.

While that dialog is up, as long as USC has understandable "Waiting for repairs" text for any *other* tasks, I don't think the repairs themselves should show in USC's Progress screen at all (and nor should Update Manager updates). But that can be fixed separately, and in the meantime, using the string "Repairing installed software" is a minimal fix. I've pushed a branch to fix it.

I've now proposed a design for problem #1 (from Sebastian's list) at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwarePackageOperations#broken>, and problems #2 and #3 at <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwarePackageOperations#general>. I'm sure I've made some mistakes, and Sebastian can correct me when he has some time. But in the meantime, this specific bug with the wording has been fixed.