Re: vim on powerpc

Hi Adrian,

Thanks, that worked!

Summary:
# wget 
https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20250523T023803Z/pool/main/v/vim/vim-common_9.1.1230-2_all.deb
# dpkg -i vim-common_9.1.1230-2_all.deb
# apt-mark hold vim-common
# apt-get install vim-tiny
# dpkg --list | grep vim
hi  vim-common 2:9.1.1230-2 all     Vi IMproved - Common files
ii  vim-tiny   2:9.1.1230-2 powerpc Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - 
compact version

-Stan

-----

On 10/11/25 3:43 PM, John Paul Adrian Glaubitz wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> On Sat, 2025-10-11 at 14:38 -0600, Stan Johnson wrote:
>> Thanks for your reply. Note that vim didn't disappear from Debian SID
>> (sysvinit).
> 
> Simon didn't say that vim disappeared and that's also not what happened.
> 
> The problem is that the vim source package didn't build on powerpc and
> several architectures due to testsuite failures, see:
> 
> https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=vim&suite=sid
> 
> Since the vim source package builds both packages of the "all" architecture,
> i.e. architecture-independent packages as well as the "any" architecture,
> i.e. of a specific architecture such as powerpc, both need to be in sync
> for the package to be installable.
> 
> When you install "vim" on powerpc, you need the "vim" package with the
> architecture powerpc as well as the "vim-common" package with the
> architecture "all".
> 
> The architecture "all" package was built successfully and hence the
> available version is now 2:9.1.1846-1 while the latest available version
> for powerpc in unstable is 2:9.1.1230-2.
> 
> Since the versions have to match, apt removed "vim" when you (blindly)
> upgraded "vim-common" to it's latest version. Hence, you should never
> blindly run dist-upgrades on unstable to avoid these issues.
> 
> For the release architectures, the problem is relieved by the fact that
> the Debian package archive software (DAK) automatically recognizes when
> packages become out of sync and keeps the old versions of the dependencies
> to keep the packages installable. The feature is called "cruft" and doesn't
> exist in Debian Ports which uses the archive software "Mini DAK".
> 
> Please see also this mailing list post where I wrote a similar explanation
> for library dependencies:
> 
> https://lists.debian.org/debian-sparc/2017/12/msg00060.html
> 
> In the future, you should be careful when running "apt dist-upgrade" and
> not just press <ENTER> without checking first which packages would be
> removed by the update.
> 
> You should have marked "vim-common" as "hold" in this case:
> 
> # apt-mark hold vim-common
> 
> Then run "apt dist-upgrade".
> 
>> Since unstable is our only option for powerpc, I'll either
>> try build vim (or vim-tiny) as you suggested, or use traditional vi.
> 
> There is no need for a manual build. Just download vim-common in the
> version 2:9.1.1230-2 from snapshot.debian.org:
> 
> https://snapshot.debian.org/package/vim/2%3A9.1.1230-2/#vim-common_2:3a:9.1.1230-2
> 
> i.e.:
> 
> # wget https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20250523T023803Z/pool/main/v/vim/vim-common_9.1.1230-2_all.deb
> # dpkg -i vim-common_9.1.1230-2_all.deb
> 
> then reinstall vim with:
> 
> # apt install vim
> 
> Adrian
>