Bug#1139562: apt: Fails to determine required space

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Hello David,
thanks for the analysis.

Am Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 10:25:02AM +0200 schrieb David Kalnischkies:
> Am Tue, Jun 09, 2026 at 06:46:13PM +0000, schrieb Helge Kreutzmann:
> >   Space needed: 8196 kB / 580 MB available
> [=E2=80=A6]
> > Unpacking texlive-fonts-extra (2026.20260527-1) over (2026.20260328-5) =
=2E..
> > dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/texlive-fonts-ex=
tra_2026.20260527-1_all.deb (--unpack):
> >  cannot copy extracted data for './usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/lat=
ex/newtx/newtx.sty' to '/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/newtx/newtx=
=2Esty.dpkg-new': failed to write (No space left on device)
> > Errors were encountered while processing:
> >  /var/cache/apt/archives/texlive-fonts-extra_2026.20260527-1_all.deb
> [=E2=80=A6]
> > As you can see, apt claims, that 8196 kB is needed, however, the packag=
e seems to need much more: (No space left on device)
> >=20
> > So somehow the calcuation done by apt is broken.
>=20
> The calculation apt does is based on the Installed-Size comparing
> what the old versions used vs. what the new versions use. The size
> increase after the installation is complete might be (at least) 8 MB
> in this case.
>=20
> This does not include auto-generated files, those downloaded while
> configuring (non-free packages), =E2=80=A6 as those files are not included
> in the package and are hence not part of the value of Installed-Size
> (that is generated by dpkg at package build time).
>=20
>=20
> The problem here is, I think, something else through:
> texlive-fonts-extra has an Installed-Size of 1.892 MB.
> If dpkg installs the upgrade by placing the .dpkg-new files
> alongside the old files before replacing them all the installation
> process might need 2 GB of free space temporarily which you don't have.
> (I don't know the inner workings of dpkg enough to know how it behaves,
>  but I suspect it does so for handling reverts/aborts)

This sounds likely to me. And these tex packages are *huge*, indeed.
So on constrained systems (and this includes virtual machines) this
might make the difference.

> Maybe we can look for the biggest (upgraded) deb to install and
> warn if the system hasn't enough free space to unpack it entirely.
> This would be off in edge cases of multi-partitioned systems, but
> those folks have problems with the 'Space needed' info anyhow as
> we don't know where the data will end up (/boot, /usr, /opt, =E2=80=A6).

Well, looking at /usr probably should suffice, /boot might be a
problem for kernsl, /opt I don't know (is it used in ordinary debs?).

(And I'm one of those edge cases, indeed).

> While at it, we might want to check that the upgrades fit before
> any reductions apply (be it upgrades or removals) as we don't really
> know in which order they will apply (well, we kinda do, but that might
> be overkill to calculate). Especially the removals are done last, which
> if we take texlive-fonts-extra as an example makes a big difference on
> this example system.

As I understand you, the problem is understood now, so I will look to
get it working, probably, by removing some texlive debs and installing
them again (with the current version).

In case you need any further logs, please let me know.

Greetings

           Helge
--=20
      Dr. Helge Kreutzmann                     [email protected]
           Dipl.-Phys.                   http://www.helgefjell.de/debian.php
        64bit GNU powered                     gpg signed mail preferred
           Help keep free software "libre": http://www.ffii.de/

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