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Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confused.

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floodpower
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Joined: 2015-10-08 03:31

Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confused.

#1 Post by floodpower »

Hello, this is my first post and I am stumped.
I have been using linux for about a year and have run into a new problem I am unable to solve.
It started when I attempted to install some packages I needed to get VirtualBox to run VMs. I am on Jessie.

I am unable to install various packages, including gedit, aptitude etc. I do not think it is a problem with my sources.list
as my laptop has the same sources.list and I am not encountering the same problems on it. Packages will not install
any dependencies. -f install isn't doing anything for me.

My sources.list...

deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
deb-src [arch=amd64,i386] http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free

deb http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free

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


I have multi-arch enabled with dpkg --add-architecture i386
For example when I attempt to install gedit I get

userone@localhost:~$ sudo apt-get install gedit
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:
gedit : Depends: python3-gi-cairo (>= 3.0) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.


The same thing with aptitude...

userone@localhost:~$ sudo apt-get -f install aptitude
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:
aptitude : Depends: aptitude-common (= 0.6.11-1) but 0.7.2-1 is to be installed
Depends: libcwidget3 but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsigc++-2.0-0c2a (>= 2.2.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxapian22 but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: aptitude-doc-en but it is not going to be installed or
aptitude-doc
Recommends: libparse-debianchangelog-perl but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.


I tried to check for held packages with

userone@localhost:~$ dpkg --get-selections | grep hold

But get nothing.

sudo apt-get install -y

nada...


Well, anyway, if you have taken the time to read this I thank you very much. I decided I'd rather check to see if anyone has any ideas before just giving up and reinstalling.
I did some googling and didn't find anything that put me in any direction, if you have any advice I'd be happy to hear it thanks for your time have a good weekend.

Randicus
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Joined: 2011-05-08 09:11

Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#2 Post by Randicus »

Why do you need to install aptitude? Was aptitude removed from the base system for Jessie? When I was using Debian, aptitude (and apt-get) was a vital part of the base system. Was it removed along with something else you removed?

floodpower
Posts: 5
Joined: 2015-10-08 03:31

Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#3 Post by floodpower »

Yes, thanks for asking. I forgot to mention but a couple of hours ago I did an apt-get autoremove, my understanding is that this removes unnecessary packages/no longed needed dependencies. When I did this kdm crashed. Shortly after I rebooted my pc and had lost gui/x server. I had to reinstall xorg and startx. Is it possible I've just wrecked apt? I was able to reinstall xorg from the terminal. If apt is indeed broken, is my next option to try to fix by installing packages from a usb/cd?

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Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#4 Post by dilberts_left_nut »

Just using the aptitude conflict from what you have posted ...
https://packages.debian.org/search?keyw ... e%2Dcommon

it is trying to install the aptitude-common version from stretch.

Did you have testing/stretch in your sources?
Have you run 'apt-get update' since changing them back to jessie?
Have you read this https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian ?

What is the output of 'apt-cache policy' ?
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floodpower
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Joined: 2015-10-08 03:31

Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#5 Post by floodpower »

Apparently I have aptitude-common but not aptitude.

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
aptitude : Depends: aptitude-common (= 0.6.11-1) but 0.7.2-1 is to be installed
Depends: libcwidget3 but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsigc++-2.0-0c2a (>= 2.2.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxapian22 but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: aptitude-doc-en but it is not going to be installed or
aptitude-doc
Recommends: libparse-debianchangelog-perl but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
userone@localhost:~$ sudo apt-get install aptitude-common
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
aptitude-common is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.


I do not have testing or stretch in my sources. My sources.list file contents are in my first post.
Yes I did run update and upgrade after modifying my sources.list.
I have not read that Don't Break Debian article, thank you for sharing.

Here is the output from apt-cache policy.

userone@localhost:~$ apt-cache policy
Package files:
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
release a=now
500 http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates/main Translation-en
500 http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates/main i386 Packages
release v=8,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian-Security,c=main
origin security.debian.org
500 http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates/main amd64 Packages
release v=8,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian-Security,c=main
origin security.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/non-free Translation-en
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/main Translation-en
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/contrib Translation-en
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/non-free i386 Packages
release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=non-free
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/contrib i386 Packages
release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=contrib
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/main i386 Packages
release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=main
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/non-free amd64 Packages
release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=non-free
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/contrib amd64 Packages
release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=contrib
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/main amd64 Packages
release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=main
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/non-free Translation-en
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main Translation-en
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/contrib Translation-en
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/non-free i386 Packages
release v=8.2,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=non-free
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/contrib i386 Packages
release v=8.2,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=contrib
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main i386 Packages
release v=8.2,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=main
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/non-free amd64 Packages
release v=8.2,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=non-free
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/contrib amd64 Packages
release v=8.2,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=contrib
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
500 http://ftp.ca.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
release v=8.2,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=main
origin ftp.ca.debian.org
Pinned packages:
xserver-xorg-video-nsc -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-kbd -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-vmware -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-radeon-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-joystick -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-core-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-mach64-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-vga -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-savage -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-v4l -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-imstt -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-all -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-wacom -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-dev -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-neomagic -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-2.1 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-void -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-modesetting-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-evdev -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-dev -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-core -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-aiptek -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-xwiimote -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-mouse -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-multitouch -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-glamo -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-driver-all -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-vesa -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-cirrus -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-all -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-intel-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-amd -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-dummy -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-joystick-dev -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-qxl -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-core-no-multiarch -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-i810 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-mtrack -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-intel -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-sunbw2 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-ati -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-2 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-4 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-5 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-6 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-mach64 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-tdfx -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-glide -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-ivtv -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-legacy-304xx -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-fbdev -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-tslib -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-trident -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-any -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-ivtv-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-1.0 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-1.9 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-r128-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dev -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-qxl-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-fglrx -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-openchrome -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-cyrix -> (not found)
xserver-xorg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-radeon -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-elographics -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-ati-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-2 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-4 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-7 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-modesetting -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-mutouch -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-r128 -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-openchrome-dbg -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-acecad -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-input-evtouch -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-mga -> (not found)
xserver-xorg-video-nouveau -> (not found)


Thank you for the reply.

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dilberts_left_nut
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Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#6 Post by dilberts_left_nut »

Odd.
I haven't seen that 'pinned -> not found' output from that command before either...
It started when I attempted to install some packages I needed to get VirtualBox to run VMs.
Maybe expanding on ths would provde some more clues.
edit: and this
Yes I did run update and upgrade after modifying my sources.list

Anything in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ ?
I would try:

Code: Select all

apt-get clean    (to clear any cached packages)
apt-get update    (to update the package lists)
apt-get install -f   (to attempt to fix things)
Normally I would recommend aptitude, as it can be a bit smarter at solving curly dependency chains, but it seems it's a casualty of your problems.
AdrianTM wrote:There's no hacker in my grandma...

floodpower
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Joined: 2015-10-08 03:31

Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#7 Post by floodpower »

Unfortunately none of those things produced any results
sources.list.d is an empty dir.
Clean works,
The update seems to work but says there is nothing to update,
install -f is giving

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded

hmmm.... I feel like I am wasting you kind folks' time. I am about 20 minutes away from saying screw it, I have the USB I used to put jessie on my laptop beside me, might just reinstall. : \
Thanks very much, sorry for wasting time.

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Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#8 Post by dilberts_left_nut »

floodpower wrote:Unfortunately none of those things produced any results
sources.list.d is an empty dir.
Clean works,
The update seems to work but says there is nothing to update,
install -f is giving

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded

hmmm.... I feel like I am wasting you kind folks' time. I am about 20 minutes away from saying screw it, I have the USB I used to put jessie on my laptop beside me, might just reinstall. : \
Thanks very much, sorry for wasting time.
That looks good.
Try 'apt-get install aptitude' now.
From the symptoms, it looks like a later .deb of aptitude-common sitting in /var/cache/apt (or such).
How it got there would be the mystery...
Could well be wrong too, as you still haven't provded much to go on.

edit: probably worth checking /etc/apt/preferences (or such) for anyting related to those reported pin's too.
AdrianTM wrote:There's no hacker in my grandma...

floodpower
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Joined: 2015-10-08 03:31

Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#9 Post by floodpower »

No such luck, same output.

userone@localhost:~$ sudo apt-get install aptitude
[sudo] password for userone:
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:
aptitude : Depends: aptitude-common (= 0.6.11-1) but 0.7.2-1 is to be installed
Depends: libcwidget3 but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsigc++-2.0-0c2a (>= 2.2.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxapian22 but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: aptitude-doc-en but it is not going to be installed or
aptitude-doc
Recommends: libparse-debianchangelog-perl but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.


and searching for packages that are on hold doesn't turn anything up.
Sorry I have not provided much to go on, I am quite perplexed as to what the source of the problem is.
Thanks for your time I am going to close this topic and do a fresh install.

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Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#10 Post by dilberts_left_nut »

How about 'apt-cache policy aptitude-common'?

You may be in a hurry, but it may also be an easy fix, or it may provde some enlightenment that prevent you finding yourself in the same predicament again.

What did you change your sources.list from?
What did you do to 'enable' Vbox?
AdrianTM wrote:There's no hacker in my grandma...

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Re: Unable to install packages, dependencies. Jessie. Confus

#11 Post by stevepusser »

Code: Select all

[b]but 0.7.2-1 is to be installed[/b]
actually means it's already installed.

That Stretch package did not magically install itself on a Jessie system. Someone had to enable the Stretch repo at one time. It's hard to say how badly your system is damaged...

You can try

Code: Select all

apt-get install aptitude-common=0.6.11-1
to try and fix that, or just uninstall it before installing aptitude. This fix is difficult with essential system libraries, though.
MX Linux packager and developer

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