apturl giving 'Package XXX is virtual.' when mixing i386 and amd64

Dear all,

 In trusty and before (I did not try later on) apturl will give the subject's message if trying to install a i386 package in amd64 host without specifying the :i386 suffix, and the other way around: trying to install a :i386 package in i386 host specifying the :i386 suffix

 The things is that apt-get install does not have this behaviour.

 Trying to put a link to, for example, apt://acroread-bin, will not work either for i386 or for amd64 depending on weather the :i386 is specified or not, while apt-get install handles properly.

 I tried to update apturl with latest ubuntu versions (vivid, etc.) but it breaks too many dependencies, before taking a look to the source code I would like to know if I should report it as a bug, if someone has already detected this behavior, and if there is any workaround.

Thanks a lot for your help. Best Regards,

Javier.