library dependency problem

Knightron · 01-12-2012, 11:48 PM

Hi guys, i'm trying to install a couple of programs and there have been dependency issues. The program requires a version of a library but i have a higher version installed. I decided to make a symlink of the library and rename it the required version.

Code:

libcairo2-dev: Depends: libcairo2 (= 1.8.10-6) but 1.10.2-1.1 is installed

The library installed is named "libcairo.so.2.11000.2. I have named the symlink libcairo.so.2.1810; but dpkg is still giving me the error. What do i have to name it for dpkg to pick it up?

cynwulf · 01-13-2012, 05:51 AM

A *-dev file will always depend on exactly the same version of the actual lib file in question (as far as I know anyway), so your sym-linking attempts are futile. Also dependency checking is based on the package database not physical checks for the actual libs - hence it won't work.

From where did you install the libcairo2? You need to get libcairo2-dev from the same repo. I can't see it in backports, so I'm assuming you've pulled it from a third party repo?

Knightron · 01-13-2012, 06:31 PM

Ok thanks for that. making symlinks in slackware worked so i thought it might in debian too, but i guess the pkg managers are to different. I honestly don't know where i got that version from, either way aptitude is offered to downgrade the pkg for me, and it doesn't seem to affect anything so ive chosen to do that, thanks.

cynwulf · 01-14-2012, 08:20 AM

Downgrading was probably the best option - the next would be to see if it's viable to backport libcairo2 and libcairo2-dev.

I know some people install a different libcairo2 to improve the font rendering in Iceweasel. This is often available from 3rd party repos - not sure which as I've never used it myself. Perhaps this is what you had installed?

There are huge differences between apt and slackpkg, dependency resolution being one of the most notable.

Knightron · 01-14-2012, 11:21 PM

Thanks for you help caravel. I did use the Mepis repo once but no longer, and thought i'd removed the content i'd tried; it's the only possibility i can think of. Oh well, it's all good now, so thanks. Slackwares package manager is pkgtool by the way; slackpkg is the third party tool included, made by Piter Punk, which works uses pkgtool; just had to add that :-)