broken packages in Sid Repos

[tec_wiz]

I have upgraded my LMDE to the sid repos about a month ago and everything was working fine. Then yesterday I noticed this error when I went to update:

Code: Select all

You have 2 broken packages on your system!

Use the "Broken" filter to locate them.

Once the installation was done this error also appeared:

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E: /var/cache/apt/archives/pidgin-data_2.7.9-1_all.deb: trying to overwrite '/usr/share/pixmaps/pidgin/protocols/22/facebook.png', 
which is also in package pidgin-facebookchat 1.67.1-1

This is the output of the installation and the errors it throughs through dpkg.

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(Reading database ... 150433 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace pidgin-data 2.7.7-1 (using .../pidgin-data_2.7.9-1_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement pidgin-data ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/pidgin-data_2.7.9-1_all.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/share/pixmaps/pidgin/protocols/22/facebook.png', which is also in package pidgin-facebookchat 1.67.1-1
configured to not write apport reports
                                      dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Preparing to replace dpkg-dev 1.15.8.7 (using .../dpkg-dev_1.15.8.8_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement dpkg-dev ...
Preparing to replace libdpkg-perl 1.15.8.7 (using .../libdpkg-perl_1.15.8.8_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libdpkg-perl ...
Preparing to replace dselect 1.15.8.7 (using .../dselect_1.15.8.8_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement dselect ...
Preparing to replace libsnmp-base 5.4.3~dfsg-1 (using .../libsnmp-base_5.4.3~dfsg-2_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libsnmp-base ...
Preparing to replace libsnmp15 5.4.3~dfsg-1 (using .../libsnmp15_5.4.3~dfsg-2_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libsnmp15 ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/pidgin-data_2.7.9-1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install.  Trying to recover:
Setting up libdpkg-perl (1.15.8.8) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpurple0:
 libpurple0 depends on pidgin-data (>= 2.7.9); however:
  Version of pidgin-data on system is 2.7.7-1.
dpkg: error processing libpurple0 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpurple-bin:
 libpurple-bin depends on libpurple0; however:
  Package libpurple0 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpurple-bin (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up libsnmp-base (5.4.3~dfsg-2) ...
Setting up libsnmp15 (5.4.3~dfsg-2) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of pidgin:
 pidgin depends on pidgin-data (>= 2.7.9); however:
  Version of pidgin-data on system is 2.7.7-1.
 pidgin depends on libpurple0 (>= 2.7.0); however:
  Package libpurple0 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing pidgin (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up dselect (1.15.8.8) ...
Setting up dpkg-dev (1.15.8.8) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 libpurple0
 libpurple-bin
 pidgin

Can someone please help me resolve this issue? I don't know what to do, still sort of a linux newb, got into LMDE to learn, but this is a little over my head.

[rivenathos]

A snippet from the Debian page at Wikipedia:

unstable, permanently aliased sid, repository contains packages currently under development; it is updated continually. This repository is designed for Debian developers who participate in a project and need the latest libraries available, or for those who like to "live on the edge", therefore it will not be as stable as the other distributions.

There can and will be some breakage in the Unstable repository. That is why it is nicknamed "sid," - the boy from Toy Story who continually broke his toys.

The way I was told a long time back was that if I wanted to learn Debian, start with Stable. Once I became comfortable with that, I should move up to Testing. As soon as I had enough skill to troubleshoot and repair my systems, that meant I was ready for Unstable.

I do not want to come off as sounding harsh, but if you just wanted to learn Linux, I think you may have jumped into the deep end of the pool a little too soon. Fortunately, if you stick with LMDE and Testing, that is a really good platform from which to learn. Are you sure you want to run with sid?

I have seen this happen a couple of times - especially with Pidgin. I wanted to show you a particular thread, but I cannot seem to find it right now. Anyway, what has happened is that you have a mismatched package. You can either roll back to the previous version of Pidgin, or wait a day or so for that odd single package to catch up. At least I think that is what is wrong.

[axxer]

i'm also using lmde with sid's repo.. and got this problem 2 or 3 weeks ago. just remove pidgin-facebookchat to solve it

[rivenathos]

@axxer, Thanks. That was one of the solutions I seem to remember being suggested in the thread I was hunting.

[Scorpio_Snake]

Sid, while named unstable, can still be a very stable distro, more so than some I have tried. When such things happen with missing dependencies on Sid usually all you need to do is wait a few days for those packages to be put into the repos ... usually.