In another nutshell:

# apt-get install fvwm
...
Suggested packages:
  fvwm-themes m4 menu wm-icons imlib-progs
Recommended packages:
  fvwm-icons imlib11
...

So I abort the apt-get when offered the chance, because I want the useful bits too.

# apt-get install fvwm fvwm-icons imlib11 fvwm-themes m4 menu wm-icons imlib-progs
[...]
Package fvwm-themes is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source
E: Package fvwm-themes has no installation candidate

# apt-get install fvwm fvwm-icons imlib11 m4 menu wm-icons imlib-progs
[...]
Package imlib-progs is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
  imlib11-dev imlib-base
E: Package imlib-progs has no installation candidate

Argh!

Dear apt-get and the Ubuntu/Debian packaging system: please stop suggesting and recommending things that I can't actually install. And if you must have these problems, please report them all at once, not in a drip by drip, one by one Chinese water torture.

While I am griping, it would be nice if apt-get had a command-line option for 'install the recommended and/or suggested packages too'. (You really need two options, one for recommended, one for suggested.)

(All of these packages come from the official Ubuntu package system.)