diff --git a/library/packaging/apt b/library/packaging/apt
index 829a689fc2e..e6bfa6d4689 100644
--- a/library/packaging/apt
+++ b/library/packaging/apt
@@ -169,6 +169,8 @@ def package_status(m, pkgname, version, cache, state):
         ll_pkg = cache._cache[pkgname] # the low-level package object
     except KeyError:
         if state == 'install':
+            if cache.get_providing_packages(pkgname):
+                return False, True, False
             m.fail_json(msg="No package matching '%s' is available" % pkgname)
         else:
             return False, False, False