E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages

[flying_squirrel]

Hi all!

I have some strange messages sometimes when I try to install a new package. The latest is with perl-doc. I have tried several things I've seen in similar topics but none seems to help. I also installed Synaptic and checked if I had broken packages (I don't) :

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$ sudo apt-get install perl-doc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 perl-doc : Depends: perl (>= 5.20.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

But:

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$ perl -v | grep -i version
This is perl 5, version 22, subversion 2 (v5.22.2) built for x86_64-linux-gnu-thread-multi
$ sudo aptitude why-not perl-doc
i   perl Breaks perl-doc (< 5.22.2-1)

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$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
# 

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 8.5.0 _Jessie_ - Official amd64 NETINST Binary-1 20160604-15:31]/ jessie main

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 8.5.0 _Jessie_ - Official amd64 NETINST Binary-1 20160604-15:31]/ jessie main

deb http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ jessie main
deb-src http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ jessie main

deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main

# jessie-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main
deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/mariadb/repo/10.1/debian jessie main
# deb-src [arch=amd64,i386] http://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/mariadb/repo/10.1/debian jessie main
deb-src http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main

I'm not sure I get it, is there something inherently wrong with my install?

Thank you,

[flying_squirrel]

Thank you for your answer wizard10000.

I'm not sure what I have installed manually but I'm sure it wasn't Perl or Perldoc. Is it like a ripple effect?

I did as you said but now whenever I run apt-get install -f, it uninstalls Perldoc. Is there some other thing I should have done?

[flying_squirrel]

Well, I kind of think my computer is haunted so that would explain it (just kidding but seriously, I'm starting to question my sanity ).

I was minding my business doing something else, decided to install neovim and suddenly the same problem popped up again. With different packages. That's tiresome. Is there any way to "clean the slate" ? I mean I can't simply go all berserk/Cluedo and remove/downgrade packages at random, especially big things like perl, it's going to break stuff. So how could I proceed? How do I revert to the packages that where initially included in Jessie? I mean, I could re-install it from scratch but... well... if there's another solution that would be better.

[flying_squirrel]

Yup, now I do remember setting some of that up following some information from a Stackoverflow user (it may have something to do with pidgin-sipe because I wanted a newer version than that from stable but I'm not sure, I may have installed pidgin-sipe manually in the end). I did create experimetal.list security.list stable.list testing.list and unstable.list if I recall but there's one I'm not sure of: security.list and another I did not create: slack.list but I do know why it's there. I think testing.list is the one I really needed but they all contain more or less the same stuff:

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$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/testing.list 
deb     http://mirror.steadfast.net/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirror.steadfast.net/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb     http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/    testing main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/    testing main contrib non-free

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$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/security.list 
deb     http://security.debian.org/         stable/updates  main contrib non-free
deb     http://security.debian.org/         testing/updates main contrib non-free

except slack of course :

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$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/slack.list 
### THIS FILE IS AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ###
# You may comment out this entry, but any other modifications may be lost.
deb https://packagecloud.io/slacktechnologies/slack/debian/ jessie main

About the pidgin-sipe lead:
https://packages.debian.org/search?suit ... idgin-sipe

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$ dpkg -l | grep pidgin
ii  pidgin                                2.10.12-1                            amd64        graphical multi-protocol instant messaging client for X
ii  pidgin-data                           2.10.12-1                            all          multi-protocol instant messaging client - data files
ii  pidgin-sipe                           1.21.1-1                             amd64        Pidgin plugin for MS Office Communicator and MS Lync

[Bulkley]

Check also your /etc/apt/sources.list. It is one thing to install a single package from an odd source. If we leave the source open it can become the gift that keeps on giving for ever after. If not careful odd sources can bork a system.

[GarryRicketson]

Guess it is a little to late, but any way, for future use:
https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

[flying_squirrel]

Hi!

I ended up re-installing my system from scratch. I'll remember to not play with fire in the future. Thank you all.