Ubuntu
apt package

Force install a package from repository

Asked by Ada Wah

Earlier, I attempted fixing a bug in a package. For testing my patch, I rebuilt the package and installed the new version on my system. This patch has not been merged into the official repos, so when I try to report another bug on the same package (which is completely unrelated to my patch), Apport tells me the package is not official and I cannot submit bugs on it.

So now I want to reinstall the official package. Using --reinstall with apt-get doesn`t work because the package can`t be downloaded. I don`t want to remove it, because ubuntu-desktop among other packages depends on it. Right now i`m trying to build the deb from source, to see if that helps. But I fear Apport will reject it when it`s not signed by the maintainer...

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#1

What is the name of the package? What are the version numbers of the official package and of your modified version?

If you issue the command
apt-cache policy ~packagename~
(with the name of the package instead of ~packagename~) you should see the version number from the official repository, and the version number from the version that you created.

The command

sudo apt-get install packagename=versionnumber

(with the package name and the official package number substitued in that command) might revert to the official package.
also the command
sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/packagename_version_archidecture.deb
should reinstall the official package version (again with the packagename, version and architecture substituted in that command).

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

You can reove the ubuntu-desktop package, it is a hollow metapackage and removing it does nothing

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