Hi Arnt,

thanks for answering and for the extra recommendations.

On Saturday, 7 November 2020 18:38:48 -03 Arnt Karlsen wrote:
> On Sat, 07 Nov 2020 16:22:24 -0300, Eike wrote in message
>
> <1632636.6XzDy3geBR@lxcl01>:
> > On Saturday, 7 November 2020 15:52:25 -03 Ludovic Bellière wrote:
> > > Hi Eike,
> > >
> > > Install libelogind0 first, so it takes precedence over systemd,
> > > then
> > > elogind.
> >
> > Thanks - but ->
> > That is impossible because of a catch-22.It is not even possible to
> > deinstall/purge libsystemd0it seems to be there to haunt me.
> >
> > Copy and paste off aptitude introduced some not-so-nice
> > esc-sequences
> > into the text. I hope that it will not mess-up the message too much.
>
> ..2 main ways: use aptitude to pick the version you want.
aptitude isn't good at hen-and-egg-problems
>
> ..if aptitude's error handling fails to find a solution, try apt
> and apt-get, they do things differently, and if those fail, we have
> rpm-style nuclear --force purge options to find with dpkg --help
> and dpkg --force-help, just line or pile 'em up. ;o)

Good grief!

Yep apt does things differently.
apt: ""You are about to do something potentially harmful."
I typed "Yes, yadda yadda ..."
It deinstalled hundreds of packages, just as I instructed it to do,
including apt, aptitude and deselect. Tadaaaa!
I had a snapshot and restored it.
Now, there is obviously no way out of this - so be it.
I will do a fresh install of Beowulf because I really have more
important things to do.

> ..once you've thrown out the trump you want out, refer back to
> Ludovic's advice. ;o)
not biting the hook ...

Cheers to all and also all the best
Eike