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So instead of including the wheezy-backport in my sources.list I had the bright idea of adding jessie directly. Realising my mistake I cut out of and apt-get update/upgrade midway through and then reset sources.list to wheezy and ran through this list of commands. But when I try to sudo apt-get install locales this happens:

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:
 base-files : PreDepends: awk
 erlang-crypto : Depends: libssl1.0.0 (>= 1.0.0) but it is not going to be installed
 libc6 : Depends: libgcc1 but it is not going to be installed
         Recommends: libc6-i686 but it is not going to be installed
         Breaks: locales (< 2.19)
 libncurses5 : PreDepends: multiarch-support but it is not going to be installed
               Recommends: libgpm2 but it is not going to be installed
 libtinfo5 : PreDepends: multiarch-support but it is not going to be installed
 locales : Depends: glibc-2.13-1
           Depends: debconf (>= 0.5) but it is not going to be installed or
                    debconf-2.0
 procps : Depends: libncursesw5 (>= 5.6+20070908) but it is not going to be installed
          Depends: libprocps0 (>= 1:3.3.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
          Depends: initscripts but it is not going to be installed
          Recommends: psmisc but it is not going to be installed
 zlib1g : PreDepends: multiarch-support but it is not going to be installed
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

How do I solve these dependencies?

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  • What happens if you try sudo apt-get -f install? Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 19:35
  • 2
    Well, you have an easy option and a hard option. Easy: reinstall; recommended. Hard: fix your system breakage. Doable, but unless you are an expert, someone will need to walk you through it. I'm guessing you aren't an expert, else you would not be asking for help here. Bottom line - you probably have a mixed system, and if you want to return to a completely wheezy system, you will have to downgrade your packages. Not easy. I helped someone do it recently... Which option do you choose? Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 0:42
  • @FaheemMitha would a reinstall save my home dir or would it overwrite it? Commented Sep 15, 2014 at 8:36
  • @rutherford well, you should have your home directory backed up in any case. however, you can do a Debian installation/reinstallation which specifically excludes your home directory. Commented Sep 15, 2014 at 11:01
  • To be clear, an installation will in any case, usually only format your home directory. You can tell the installer to not even do that. Basically, just leave your directory alone. Commented Sep 15, 2014 at 17:15

1 Answer 1

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The best way to have successful install is to go through the missing dependencies;

a) find them on ubuntu sites and get it installed correctly. b) try to run the original apt-get install {package} command.

If you try "sudo apt-get -f install" it'll cause issues because it was force installed in the first place and it will backfire on you eventually in the future.

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2
  • For example: packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=libncurses5 - you can find them from there. Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 22:27
  • once you learn how to resolve dependencies it won't be a big deal. Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 23:44

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