Bug#1052133: apt: E: Removing essential system-critical packages is not permitted. This might break the system.

[Thorsten Glaser]

Package: apt
Version: 2.7.3
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-Cc: t...@mirbsd.de

E: Removing essential system-critical packages is not permitted. This might break the system.

Used to be that it asks for “Yes, do as I say!”, and this is missing
in sid now‽ I kinda need that…

-- Package-specific info:

-- (/etc/apt/preferences present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/dash-mksh.pref present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/ncurses-term-considered-harmful present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-apparmor present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-aptitude present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-drexim present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-networkmanager present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-packagekit present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-puppet present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-ruby present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-systemd-completely present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/prevent-unattended-upgrades present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/preferences.d/usrmove-done-considered-harmful present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/sources.list present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/local.list present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/tarent-sid.sources present, but not submitted) --

-- (/etc/apt/sources.list.d/wtf-sid.sources present, but not submitted) --

-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
APT prefers unstable-debug
APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'unreleased'), (500, 'buildd-unstable'), (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386, x32

Kernel: Linux 5.10.0-25-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_FIRMWARE_WORKAROUND
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/lksh
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)

Versions of packages apt depends on:
ii adduser 3.137
ii base-passwd 3.6.1
ii debian-archive-keyring 2023.4
ii gpgv 2.2.40-1.1
ii libapt-pkg6.0 2.7.3
ii libc6 2.37-7
ii libelogind0 [libsystemd0] 246.10-1debian1
ii libgcc-s1 13.2.0-2
ii libgnutls30 3.8.1-4
ii libseccomp2 2.5.4-1+b3
ii libstdc++6 13.2.0-2

Versions of packages apt recommends:
ii ca-bundle [ca-certificates] 20190604tarent1

Versions of packages apt suggests:
pn apt-doc <none>
pn aptitude | synaptic | wajig <none>
ii dpkg-dev 1.22.0
ii gnupg 2.2.40-1.1
ii gnupg1 1.4.23-1.1+b1
pn powermgmt-base <none>

-- no debconf information

[Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues]

Hi,

Quoting Thorsten Glaser (2023-09-17 23:03:50)

> E: Removing essential system-critical packages is not permitted. This might break the system.
>
> Used to be that it asks for “Yes, do as I say!”, and this is missing
> in sid now‽ I kinda need that…

it's documented in "man apt-get" if you search for "essential" you find:

> --allow-remove-essential
> Force yes; this is a dangerous option that will cause apt to continue without
> prompting if it is removing essentials. It should not be used except in very
> special situations. Using it can potentially destroy your system! Configuration
> Item: APT::Get::allow-remove-essential. Introduced in APT 1.1.

It appears that there are people who will assume that when their computer tells
them to type “Yes, do as I say!” then that's just what they will do without
switching their brain on first: https://youtu.be/0506yDSgU7M?t=633

To prevent this from happening in the future, this was changed to become even
more difficult and now one has to read the manual and pass the option above
instead.

Thanks!

cheers, josch

[Thorsten Glaser]

Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues dixit:

>Quoting Thorsten Glaser (2023-09-17 23:03:50)
>> E: Removing essential system-critical packages is not permitted. This might break the system.
>>
>> Used to be that it asks for “Yes, do as I say!”, and this is missing
>> in sid now‽ I kinda need that…
>
>it's documented in "man apt-get" if you search for "essential" you find:
>
>> --allow-remove-essential

oic

>It appears that there are people who will assume that when their computer tells
>them to type “Yes, do as I say!” then that's just what they will do without
>switching their brain on first: https://youtu.be/0506yDSgU7M?t=633

Yeah, you’re caught between a rock and a hard place there, I suppose.

>To prevent this from happening in the future, this was changed to become even
>more difficult and now one has to read the manual and pass the option above
>instead.

The problem is, the last time apt-get told me to look up a switch
to allow something (release name change, IIRC), the manpage did not
have that information at all, let alone easily findable.

Maybe add…

N: See remove-essential in the apt-get(8) manual page for details.

… to that message, as second line?

Thanks,
//mirabilos
--
<ch> you introduced a merge commit │<mika> % g rebase -i HEAD^^
<mika> sorry, no idea and rebasing just fscked │<mika> Segmentation
<ch> should have cloned into a clean repo │ fault (core dumped)
<ch> if I rebase that now, it's really ugh │<mika:#grml> wuahhhhhh