CrunchBang Linux

IamFuzzles

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 32

What did I do to my packages?

I recently ran into some errors when trying to install some packages (like pixmap) which recommended I try using apt-get -f install. running this, I get the following error

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc6:i386 libc6-i686:i386
Suggested packages:
  glibc-doc:i386 locales:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libc6:i386 libc6-i686:i386
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
17 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/5,192 kB of archives.
After this operation, 11.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 159548 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libc6:i386 (from .../libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite shared '/usr/share/doc/libc6/NEWS.gz', which is different from other instances of package libc6:i386
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)eading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc6:i386 libc6-i686:i386
Suggested packages:
  glibc-doc:i386 locales:i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libc6:i386 libc6-i686:i386
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
17 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/5,192 kB of archives.
After this operation, 11.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 159548 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libc6:i386 (from .../libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite shared '/usr/share/doc/libc6/NEWS.gz', which is different from other instances of package libc6:i386
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I really have no clue whats going on, I tried using apt-get to remove libc6-i386 but I just get dependency errors. What is happening here?

machinebacon

#! unstable

From: China

Registered: 2009-07-02

Posts: 6,825

Website

Re: What did I do to my packages?

Hello,

wipe the tears and be brave:

sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb
# it probably will fail, so remove the bad guy:
sudo rm /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6_2.13-38_i386.deb
# refresh the database
sudo apt-get update
# try to self-fix it
sudo apt-get -f install 

You might have better outcome with aptitude (for a try), sometimes it can resolve these situations better than apt.

---

Sweaty lads picking up the soap | I love the new "Ignore user" button

IamFuzzles

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 32

Re: What did I do to my packages?

Thanks a lot, I removed the libc6 stuff, then used aptitude -f install and it cleaned right up!

Any idea what was going on there? I now have 49 packages that "will not be upgraded" though I was able to do it through the synaptic package manager. I've been using crunchbang for quite awhile now, but it seems like I still don't fully understand that package manager and how it all works

machinebacon

#! unstable

From: China

Registered: 2009-07-02

Posts: 6,825

Website

Re: What did I do to my packages?

Oh there might be so many possibilities, starting with a single outdated (not synced) package on the server, or a pre-install/post-install script that had a bug, or there was a previous attempt of an upgrade and a certain package (that one, that caused all the troubles) was not removed or fully downloaded or fully unpacked and prevented the upgrade of the other packages.

I recommend (though, who am I to recommend anything) not to force upgrades when APT holds them back - there's usually a reason. If you use testing, or unstable, be sure to check the Upgrade Warnings sections of these forums:
http://siduction.org/index.php?name=PNp … forum&f=22
http://aptosid.com/index.php?name=PNphp … wforum&f=3
http://linuxbbq.org/bbs/viewforum.php?f=9
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p … 8&t=132747
and so on

In doubt, wait a day or two, by all means run a sudo apt-get update to sync the database, and always, always perform a dist-upgrade, not just an upgrade.

Cheers!

---

Sweaty lads picking up the soap | I love the new "Ignore user" button