Unable to use dpkg to uninstall dependencies

Question

I am trying to uninstall the package openssh-client using dpkg. I also have the packages openssh-server and ssh-askpass-gnome installed and want to uninstall those as well.

Currently I have the command dpkg -r openssh-client but that gives an error message that says

openssh-server depends on opessh-client.
ssh-askpass-gnome depends on openssh-client however:
Package openssh-client is to be removed

dpkg: error processing openssh-client (--remove)
dependency problems - not removing

I want to remove all dependencies as well as openssh-client. I've tried the -B flag (aka --auto-deconfigure) but it does nothing

Apt-get works, but sometimes requires input (even with -y) and that is not acceptable (running from a script).

(Ubuntu 8.04.3 server)

Answer 1

Search for a command switch in the dpkg manual to remove dependencies.

FYI --force is probably not what you want.

Answer 2

If you want dependencies handled automatically when removing / purging packages, dpkg can be a pain. Aptitude is the command you want.