Ubuntu Software Center downloads something when installing from a .deb file

Question

I wanted to install winusb from http://congelli.eu/prog_info_winusb.html I downloaded the deb file, the latest was available for precise(I amrunning 12.10) I opened the .deb file(390 kb) in Ubuntu Software Manager and clicked on install. Then I switched to the progress tab and saw this. USC showed that it was downloading data of size 3.9 MB.

Can someone explain? Was USC just downoading the latest updates and just showed that under the current operation?

Answer 1

There are two possibilities here. First is that there are unmet dependencies that Ubuntu Software Center is downloading and installing first. The alternate (less likely) possibility is that there is a newer version in the repository and Ubuntu Software Center took it upon itself to use that version instead. (This probably isn't at all likely, I just really hate that program and will assume the worst).

a quick way to check would be to uninstall it, then run

sudo dpkg -i ./path/to/deb.deb

and it will only half-install if there are unmet dependencies. You can resolve these with

sudo apt-get install -f

Edit: Alternately you could uninstall it, clear your apt cache and then disconnect from the internet while installing it and see what USC complains about