1. Circumventing Debian package dependencies This is a dummy package which can be used to create Debian packages, which only contain dependency information. This way, you can make the Debian package management system believe that equivalents to packages on which other packages do depend on are actually installed. Another possibility is creation of a meta package. When this package contains a dependency as "Depends: a, b, c", then installing this package will also select packages a, b and c. Instead of "Depends", you can also use "Recommends:" or "Suggests:" for less demanding dependency. Please note that this is a crude hack and if thoughtlessly used might possibly do damage to your packaging system. And please note as well that using it is not the recommended way of dealing with broken dependencies. Better file a bug report instead. From Debian 3.0r0 APT