Problems with updates due to dependencies

Question

I cannot update anything or install new software because of problems with the dependencies. The terminal suggest to run apt-get -f install. After trying this, there is a problem saying that it failed to correct efficiencies. Then it says:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 update-notifier : Depends: update-notifier-common (= 3.168.9) but 3.168.8 is installed
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.
E: Unable to correct dependencies

I have tried some of the solutions to similar problems posted in here but all have been futile. One of them said to look at the log file and try to remove the "broken" packages... but my log file was blank...

** UPDATE **

I ran the command sudo apt-cache policy update-notifier update-notifier-common This was the output:

update-notifier:
  Installed: 3.168.9
  Candidate: 3.192.1.4
  Version table:
     3.192.1.4 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
     3.192 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
 *** 3.168.9 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.168.7 500
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages
     3.168 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
update-notifier-common:
  Installed: 3.168.8
  Candidate: 3.192.1.4
  Version table:
     3.192.1.4 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main i386 Packages
     3.192 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main i386 Packages
 *** 3.168.8 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.168.7 500
        500 **security.ubuntu**/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages
        500 **security.ubuntu**/ubuntu xenial-security/main i386 Packages
     3.168 500
        500 **archive.ubuntu**/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
        500 **archive.ubuntu**/ubuntu xenial/main i386 Packages

Note : the last 4 links are modified. They should start with http:// and after ".ubuntu" should have a .com . However, I can only include up to 8 links.

Scott Stensland · Answer 1 · 2019-01-14T20:11:14.033

issue these in a terminal ( ctrl+alt+t )

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
sudo dpkg --configure --pending
sudo dpkg -C  # audit - check for broken packages

it should comb out any tangles in the dependency manager ... post errors if this fails to fully resolve

UPDATE - issue this to see what you have installed

dpkg  -l|grep  update-notifier

now get them re-installed

sudo apt-get --reinstall install  update-notifier update-notifier-common

Tell us if that runs OK ... if good then go back and run the original set of commands above

Problems with updates due to dependencies

1 Answers1