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The general question:
If faced with a Broken Package System error, can you wait for the culprit package(s) to be fixed or do you always manually have to fix this error yourself?
I am asking this because I read many posts handling this error differently (even if their underlying cause is the same), and the reported outcomes are also mixed.
If you can wait, how to keep your system up-to-date, particularly security wise, with this Broken Package System error?

My specific problem:
The Vendor-Neutral GL Dispatch Library tries to install libGLES, but this library was earlier installed by the Nvidia drivers 340.106, leading to a file conflict.
In the meantime a fixed Nvidia drivers 340.107 is in the 'proposed' repository. When this fixed Nvidia drivers 340.107 moves to the official repository, will this solve the Broken Package System error when I run the Software Updater?
The problem is also described in Broken package udpating Ubuntu 18.04 GL dispatch library There pibacco's answer suggests to let the Vendor-Neutral GL Dispatch Library forcefully overwrite Nvidia's libGLES. I think, but not being entirely sure, this is a proper solution, since the Nvidia drivers were fixed and not the Vendor-Neutral GL Dispatch Library. So I deduce that libGLES is no longer installed with the new Nvidia drivers 340.107.

Bart
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1 Answers1

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In this case 'broken' simply means "The package manager knows that this package cannot be installed," which may slightly different from what you expect.

A 'broken' package could mean many things: Corrupted data, conflict with another package, incompatible version, etc. Each cause of 'broken' gets handled differently, of course.

Example: A new upstream version will fix only some causes. It usually fixes file corruption (very rare). It might --or might not-- fix a file conflict (moderately common). It won't fix most version conflicts (very common).

user535733
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  • Yes, I know a Broken Package System can have various underlying causes. What bothers me is that there is little consensus how to solve this issue. Even for a single cause, e.g. file conflict, there are a plethora of posts describing how to proceed. I even don't know if I can wait for an automatic solution or not. – Bart Sep 28 '18 at 10:32
  • Since your question was general, with your case merely as an example, the answer is general. If you want a specific answer to your case, that's actually much easier: A new upstream release probably won't fix your problem, because the upstream developers probably don't have that problem (they would have fixed it). If somebody reported the bug, you can track if it's fixed or not. If nobody reported the bug, or if the upstream developers rejected the bug, then obviously no fix is forthcoming and you must do it yourself. – user535733 Sep 28 '18 at 12:24
  • Well, I mentioned in my question the upcoming version is in fact a version that fixes my problem. Nevertheless, I decided to wait no longer, I found the risk of not updating my system too big. Hence I fixed the file conflict problem by following pibacco's answer in https://askubuntu.com/a/1077622 by forcing Vendor-Neutral GL Dispatch Library to overwrite Nvidia's libGLES. Now I hope this was the correct choice. Still, I hope these Broken Package System errors become more user-friendly to solve, instead of hoping you're following the correct procedure. – Bart Sep 30 '18 at 18:13