Saved (yet another time) by an external solver for apt!
By Roberto Di Cosmo on Thursday, October 30 2014, 22:56 - Mancoosi - Permalink
Did you know that you can ask apt-get to invoke an external solver for handling the dependency hell that sometimes plagues your upgrades? Well, just now, again, this feature saved my day, and it is just a matter of typing a short option!
Instead of the standard
apt-get install libreoffice
that failed to propose a decent upgrade, as detailed later, I typed
apt-get --solver aspcud install libreoffice
that returned this pretty good solution
apt-get --solver aspcud install libreoffice Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... Execute external solver... The following extra packages will be installed: coinor-libcbc3 coinor-libcgl1 coinor-libclp1 coinor-libcoinmp1 coinor-libcoinutils3 coinor-libosi1 libabw-0.1-1 libcdr-0.1-1 libe-book-0.1-1 libetonyek-0.1-1 libfreehand-0.1-1 libgltf-0.0-0 libmspub-0.1-1 libmwaw-0.3-3 libodfgen-0.1-1 liborcus-0.8-0 libpython3.4 libpython3.4-minimal libpython3.4-stdlib libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-impress libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-math libreoffice-style-galaxy libreoffice-style-tango libreoffice-writer libvisio-0.1-1 python3-uno python3.4 python3.4-minimal uno-libs3 ure Suggested packages: hyphen-hyphenation-patterns libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-kde libreoffice-grammarcheck libreoffice-l10n-4.3 myspell-dictionary unixodbc gstreamer1.0-ffmpeg libreoffice-officebean libreoffice-gcj libreoffice-report-builder libjtds-java libreoffice-mysql-connector libmyodbc libmysql-java libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql odbc-postgresql libpg-java libsqliteodbc tdsodbc mdbtools ocl-icd-libopencl1 libreoffice-style-crystal libreoffice-style-hicontrast libreoffice-style-oxygen libreoffice-style-sifr fonts-crosextra-caladea fonts-crosextra-carlito python3.4-venv python3.4-doc The following NEW packages will be installed: coinor-libcbc3 coinor-libcgl1 coinor-libclp1 coinor-libcoinmp1 coinor-libcoinutils3 coinor-libosi1 libabw-0.1-1 libcdr-0.1-1 libe-book-0.1-1 libetonyek-0.1-1 libfreehand-0.1-1 libgltf-0.0-0 libmspub-0.1-1 libmwaw-0.3-3 libodfgen-0.1-1 liborcus-0.8-0 libvisio-0.1-1 The following packages will be upgraded: libpython3.4 libpython3.4-minimal libpython3.4-stdlib libreoffice libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-impress libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-math libreoffice-style-galaxy libreoffice-style-tango libreoffice-writer python3-uno python3.4 python3.4-minimal uno-libs3 ure 23 upgraded, 17 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1864 not upgraded.
So, next time you run into trouble, try the external solver, and wait the extra time (maybe 30 seconds)... it may be well worth the wait.
Just make sure you have aspcud and apt-cudf installed for this to work!
For the curious (or masochists) following this blog, here is what I got when I first tried using apt-get (Version: 1.0.6):
apt-get install libreoffice Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... 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:
libreoffice : Depends: python3-uno (>= 4.0~) but it is not going to be installed or
python-uno but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
And yes, I also tried aptitude (Version: 0.6.11-1), which led to some interesting interactions, of which only the beginning is reported below
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Initializing package states...
Reading task descriptions...
Building tag database...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
coinor-libcbc3{a} coinor-libcgl1{a} coinor-libclp1{a}
coinor-libcoinmp1{a} coinor-libcoinutils3{a} coinor-libosi1{a}
libabw-0.1-1{a} libcdr-0.1-1{a} libe-book-0.1-1{a} libetonyek-0.1-1{a}
libfreehand-0.1-1{a} libgltf-0.0-0{a} libmspub-0.1-1{a} libmwaw-0.3-3{a}
libodfgen-0.1-1{a} liborcus-0.8-0{a} libvisio-0.1-1{a}
The following packages will be REMOVED:
latex-sanskrit{u} libabw-0.0-0{u} libass4{u} libavcodec54{u}
libavformat54{u} libboost-date-time1.54.0{u} libboost-python1.54.0{u}
libcdr-0.0-0{u} libcmis-0.3-3{u} libe-book-0.0-0{u} libepub0{u}
libetonyek-0.0-0{u} libfreehand-0.0-0{u} libgnutls28:i386{u}
liblist-allutils-perl{u} liblivemedia23{u} libmozjs24d{u}
libmspub-0.0-0{u} libmwaw-0.1-1{u} libmwaw-0.2-2{u} libodfgen-0.0-0{u}
libokularcore3{u} liborcus-0.6-0{u} libproxy-tools{u} libpython3.3{u}
libpython3.3-minimal{u} libpython3.3-stdlib{u}
libtracker-sparql-0.16-0{u} libts-dev{u} libusageenvironment1{u}
libvisio-0. 0-0{u} libwps-0.2-2{u} libzip2{u} luatex{u}
nepomuk-core-runtime{u} python3.3{u} python3.3-minimal{u}
shared-desktop-ontologies{u} texlive-luatex{u} xulrunner-24.0{u}
The following packages will be upgraded:
libreoffice libreoffice-base libreoffice-base-core
libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-calc libreoffice-common
libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-impress
libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-style-galaxy libreoffice-style-tango
libreoffice-writer uno-libs3
15 packages upgraded, 17 newly installed, 40 to remove and 1865 not upgraded.
Need to get 85.4 MB of archives. After unpacking 96.1 MB will be freed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
ure : Depends: uno-libs3 (= 4.2.5-1+b1) but 4.3.3git20141011-1 is to be installed.
python3-uno : Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.5-1+b1) but 1:4.3.3git20141011-1 is to be installed.
libreoffice-math : Depends: libreoffice-core (= 1:4.2.5-1+b1) but 1:4.3.3git20141011-1 is to be installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:
Remove the following packages: 1) libreoffice 2) libreoffice-avmedia-backend-gstreamer 3) libreoffice-base 4) libreoffice-base-core 5) libreoffice-base-drivers 6) libreoffice-calc 7) libreoffice-common 8) libreoffice-core 9) libreoffice-draw 10) libreoffice-gtk 11) libreoffice-help-en-us 12) libreoffice-impress 13) libreoffice-java-common 14) libreoffice-math 15) libreoffice-report-builder-bin 16) libreoffice-sdbc-firebird 17) libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb 18) libreoffice-writer 19) libreoffice-writer2latex 20) mythes-en-us 21) python3-uno 22) ure
Accept this solution? (Y/n/q/?) n