LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] My Debian package system is broken

- Debian (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/)

- - My Debian package system is broken (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/my-debian-package-system-is-broken-4175723261/)

My Debian package system is broken

I wanted to try an application on Debian Stretch and GDebi told me I just needed libdrm2_2.4.75. I had libdrm2_2.4.74-1 but I found libdrm2_2.4.75 in the stretch-backports repository.

So I installed it, it seemed to work, but then Debian complained about the lack of a dependency, libdrm2_2.4.75:i386. I tried to install it, but now I can't install anything because there is some broken dependency:

Code:

(Reading database ... 307298 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack libdrm2_2.4.95-1~bpo9+1_amd64.deb ...

De-configuring libdrm2:i386 (2.4.74-1) ...

Unpacking libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.95-1~bpo9+1) over (2.4.74-1) ...

dpkg: error processing package libdrm2:amd64 (--install):

 package libdrm2:amd64 2.4.95-1~bpo9+1 cannot be configured because libdrm2:i386 is at a different version (2.4.74-1)

dpkg: error processing package libdrm2:i386 (--install):

 package libdrm2:i386 2.4.74-1 cannot be configured because libdrm2:amd64 is at a different version (2.4.95-1~bpo9+1)

Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.24-11+deb9u3) ...

Errors were encountered while processing:

 libdrm2:amd64

 libdrm2:i386

Both libdrm2:amd64 and libdrm2:i386 are listed as broken. The big problem is, if I try to remove either one, Synaptic wants to remove some 95% of all my multimedia software. That is unacceptable.

Can I tell Debian to remove those two packages ignoring the whole dependency problem and that I promise to reinstall them just a few seconds later?

You could simply Timeshift back to a snapshot taken before some or all of the changes were made, easy peasy.

You could also try

Code:

apt-get --fix-broken

or (I've found this more effective) open Synaptic and go to Edit-->Fix Broken.

Let us know what you try and what happens.

(Typo fixed.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell (Post 6419090)

You could also try

Code:

apt-get --fix-broken

Code:

# apt-get --fix-broken

E: Command line option --fix-broken is not understood in combination with the other options

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell (Post 6419090)

open Synaptic and go to Edit-->Fix Broken.

It says:

Quote:

An error occurred
The following details are provided:
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.
E: Unable to correct dependencies

Quote:

Debian 9 has been superseded by Debian 10 ("buster"). Security updates have been discontinued as of July 6th, 2020.

You need to upgrade to Debian 10 Buster, https://phoenixnap.com/kb/how-to-upg...bian-10-buster

I don't want to upgrade, I just want to fix two broken dependencies in an otherwise fully functional system. I used packages from an official repository. There must be some way to fix that mess.

remove what you have installed (all the drm2 packages), run apt install -f and check if that works.
After that you can try to install drm2 again using apt install libdrm2:amd64 libdrm2:i386
But do not install any other version just the one available/recommended by apt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pan64 (Post 6419197)

remove what you have installed (all the drm2 packages),

I can't. If I try to remove either one, Synaptic wants to remove some other 100+ packages that I need and cannot reinstall.

do not use synaptic, but dpkg. You can theoretically remove at least one of them.
Another possibility would be to upgrade libdrm2:i386 to 2.4.95-1~bpo9+1 (same as libdrm2:amd64) manually (or something similar).

OK, I solved the problem this way:

Code:

# dpkg -r --force-all libdrm2:amd64



# dpkg -i libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb

(Reading database ... 307296 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.74-1) ...

dpkg: error processing archive libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb (--install):

 trying to overwrite shared '/usr/share/doc/libdrm2/changelog.Debian.gz', which is different from other instances of package libdrm2:amd64

Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.24-11+deb9u3) ...

Errors were encountered while processing:

 libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb



# apt-get install libdrm2

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree      

Reading state information... Done

The following NEW packages will be installed:

  libdrm2

0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 161 not upgraded.

2 not fully installed or removed.

Need to get 0 B/36.2 kB of archives.

After this operation, 108 kB of additional disk space will be used.

(Reading database ... 307296 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack .../libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.74-1) ...

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb (--unpack):

 trying to overwrite shared '/usr/share/doc/libdrm2/changelog.Debian.gz', which is different from other instances of package libdrm2:amd64

Errors were encountered while processing:

 /var/cache/apt/archives/libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)



# mv /usr/share/doc/libdrm2 /usr/share/doc/oldlibdrm2

# apt-get install libdrm2

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree      

Reading state information... Done

The following NEW packages will be installed:

  libdrm2

0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 161 not upgraded.

2 not fully installed or removed.

Need to get 0 B/36.2 kB of archives.

After this operation, 108 kB of additional disk space will be used.

(Reading database ... 307296 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack .../libdrm2_2.4.74-1_amd64.deb ...

Unpacking libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.74-1) ...

Setting up initramfs-tools (0.130) ...

update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)

Setting up libdrm2:i386 (2.4.74-1) ...

Setting up libdrm2:amd64 (2.4.74-1) ...

Everything is fixed. Solved.

.

Thanks for the update. Your post may well help someone else down the line.