How to Modify the Dependency of Debian Package in Ubuntu 14.04

I had added a ppa to run a newer version of mythtv and mysql-server than the current supported software. This led to software update failures due to failed dependencies. I am running mythubuntu 14.04 and this post will show how to change the dependency requirement of a software package so that it will install. This method will use a bash script to save some time. The script uses the nano text editor to change the file. Terminal commands will look like this sentence.

• Download the script “nano.debcontrol.sh”
  • Putting this file in a location that is in your path will make it easier to run
    • see http://askubuntu.com/questions/540344/add-custom-script-to-path
  • Download link
    • nano.debcontrol.sh
  • you will need to make the file executable
    • sudo chmod 770 nano.debcontrol.sh
  • This script is a modification of Loevborg’s script from post http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=636724
• Change to the directory you want to download the package to
  • cd ~/Downloads/mythtv-27
• Download the mythtv package to modify
  • sudo apt-get download mythtv
• List contents of directory to see file name of the downloaded file
  • ls -l
    • mythtv_2%3a0.27.4+fixes.20150423.8f14d3d-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3_all.deb
      -rw-r–r– 1 root root  77K Apr 25 08:09
• Modify mythtv package
  • nano.debcontrol.sh mythtv_2%3a0.27.4+fixes.20150423.8f14d3d-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3_all.deb
    • Change the following line
      • Depends: mysql-server
      • Change to this
        • Depends: mysql-server | mysql-server-5.6
      • This allows the package to use mysql-server or mysql-server-5.6
    • Save file
      • ctrl + o in nano
• View new modified mythtv file
  • ls -l
    • mythtv_2%3a0.27.4+fixes.20150423.8f14d3d-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3_all.modfied.deb
• View package contents and order of files (important)
  • less mythtv_2%3a0.27.4+fixes.20150423.8f14d3d-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3_all.modfied.deb
• Install modified mythtv file
  • sudo dpkg -i mythtv_2%3a0.27.4+fixes.20150423.8f14d3d-0ubuntu0mythbuntu3_all.modfied.deb
• Done