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Old 07-05-2014, 09:21 PM   #1
steez2002
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Registered: Dec 2010
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Distribution: Ubuntu 14.04
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Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages


Hey forum I wanted to run some applications that required Gnome (wouldn't run on unity) I thought what I was doing was installing Gnome as an option to run by selecting it at the login screen. Unfortunatly I now have no unity option. Default is now Gnome and unity-desktop will NOT reinstall.

I have gnome(default), XBMC, & Cinnamon for options

I have searched all over and found nothing that has worked! I am ready to just start over but would love to fix it instead

Terminal output:

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:
ubuntu-desktop : Depends: ubuntu-session but it is not going to be installed
Depends: unity-control-center but it is not going to be installed
Depends: unity-settings-daemon but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: xul-ext-webaccounts but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
 
Old 07-06-2014, 07:22 AM   #2
RockDoctor
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I'd start with Synaptic->Custom Filters->Broken to see what appears to be broken.
 
2 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-06-2014, 08:23 AM   #3
jamison20000e
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Some times
Code:
sudo apt-get autoclean $$ apt-get clear cache
as a step can help plus learning about source.list ...best wishes and have fun.
 
Old 07-06-2014, 04:16 PM   #4
steez2002
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Registered: Dec 2010
Location: WV
Distribution: Ubuntu 14.04
Posts: 14

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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockDoctor View Post
I'd start with Synaptic->Custom Filters->Broken to see what appears to be broken.
nothing shows in broken...?
 
Old 07-06-2014, 04:19 PM   #5
steez2002
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Registered: Dec 2010
Location: WV
Distribution: Ubuntu 14.04
Posts: 14

Original Poster
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamison20000e View Post
Some times
Code:
sudo apt-get autoclean $$ apt-get clear cache
as a step can help plus learning about source.list ...best wishes and have fun.
same results as previous...
 
Old 07-06-2014, 04:56 PM   #6
jamison20000e
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Location: ...uncanny valley... infinity\1975; (randomly born:) Milwaukee, WI, US( + travel,) Earth&Mars (I wish,) END BORDER$!◣◢┌∩┐ Fe26-E,e...
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Question

Have you tried
Code:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
 
Old 07-06-2014, 05:42 PM   #7
steez2002
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yes I tried that before posting. I am doing a reinstall of 14.04 without removing files via usb. Hopefully this will fix the system. I should have noticed when purge was in the command to install gnome that it was a bad idea. If this gets me back to normal I will only be installing cinnamon and the last install I did I saw gnome was already installed by default. I'll let you know as soon as its finished.
 
Old 07-06-2014, 07:18 PM   #8
steez2002
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Back to SQ1

Well reinstalling with keep files option didnt do too well lost wifi drivers and some other junk so I just reinstalled with delete files option selected no I'm back to square 1 I now know what not to do... LOL Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Old 07-25-2015, 05:39 PM   #9
charliecrn
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Thumbs up

Suggestion from Rock Doctor fixed it for me - thanks! Synaptics>Custom Filters>Broken...
 
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Old 07-25-2015, 09:15 PM   #10
jamison20000e
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Thread Tools ^ [solved] could be cool if you modified the title here to include Synaptic as well?

Edit: Sorry wrong person...

Last edited by jamison20000e; 07-25-2015 at 10:08 PM.
 
Old 07-14-2016, 01:12 PM   #11
chaitanyauk
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Registered: Jul 2016
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E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I am getting the same issues.I tried everything that are mentioned earlier. but still the issue has not been resolved.Please help!
 
Old 07-14-2016, 03:47 PM   #12
rtmistler
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chaitanyauk View Post
I am getting the same issues.I tried everything that are mentioned earlier. but still the issue has not been resolved.Please help!
This is also not a viable option. You have provided insufficient information in your other thread http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...es-4175584637/, and you were suggested to not create duplicate conversations, so instead you've chosen to hijack a thread which has not seen activity for nearly 12 months time. Further, the LQ web portal should've warned you about not resurrecting old threads unless you had something actually additive to the conversation. Please request a moderator move your original thread to a proper forum. I have asked them to do so, it does take time, but no reason you also cannot second that request yourself.

Further, it was pointed out that you haven't provided any details about the circumstances, system, or distribution and version related to your problem, but you're asking for help and now adding exclamation points.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 07-15-2016, 12:47 AM   #13
chaitanyauk
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Registered: Jul 2016
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I using ubuntu 14.04(64 bit).I started with these commands:
$sudo apt-get update
$sudo apt-get upgrade

Then I tried to install MySQL.Terminal outputs as follow:

chaitanya@chaitanya-SVE15135CNB:~$ sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.5
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:
mysql-server-5.5 : Depends: libdbi-perl but it is not installable
Depends: mysql-client-5.5 (>= 5.5.49-0ubuntu0.14.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: mysql-server-core-5.5 (>= 5.5.49-0ubuntu0.14.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: libhtml-template-perl but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
chaitanya@chaitanya-SVE15135CNB:~$

My /etc/apt/sources.list file contains:

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS _Trusty Tahr_ - Release amd64 (20140722.2)]/ trusty main restricted

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty main restricted
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates main restricted
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty universe
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty universe
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates universe
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty multiverse
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty multiverse
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates multiverse
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-security multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu trusty partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu trusty partner

## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
## developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main
 
Old 07-15-2016, 12:31 PM   #14
rtmistler
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Some recommendations for chaitanyauk (Not OP) to try:
Code:
sudo apt-get clean
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get update
Alternatively you could try:
Code:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -f
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install mysql-client
Note that dist-upgrade will NOT upgrade your distribution to a newer LTS version, it will install distribution updates relevant to 14.04 which you have. There are some who question the need for "apt-get upgrade" when many times the solution involves invoking "apt-get dist-upgrade". Myself, I prefer minimal until I hit a brick wall, similar to what you're encountering here. Unfortunately this is about the limit of my expertise on this subject.

From apt-get manual:
Quote:
upgrade
upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages
currently installed on the system from the sources enumerated in
/etc/apt/sources.list. Packages currently installed with new
versions available are retrieved and upgraded; under no
circumstances are currently installed packages removed, or packages
not already installed retrieved and installed. New versions of
currently installed packages that cannot be upgraded without
changing the install status of another package will be left at
their current version. An update must be performed first so that
apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.

dist-upgrade
dist-upgrade in addition to performing the function of upgrade,
also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions
of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and
it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the
expense of less important ones if necessary. So, dist-upgrade
command may remove some packages. The /etc/apt/sources.list file
contains a list of locations from which to retrieve desired package
files. See also apt_preferences(5) for a mechanism for overriding
the general settings for individual packages.
 
  


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