Force apt-get to overwrite file installed by another package

Question

(I realize a similar question was asked before but the answers there don't handle these details)

I'm on Ubuntu 10.10 and need both python2.5 (coming from deadnsakes -- https://launchpad.net/~fkrull/+archive/deadsnakes) and python-profiler

Unfortunately, these two packages both try to install /usr/lib/python2.5/profile.py so apt-get won't allow me to install both

Obviously this is a packaging bug, but I need this fixed asap. Is there anyway to completely ignore these errors and just blow out that file?

It is not necessarily a bug: the two packages can be incompatible. — enzotib, Aug 12 '11 at 06:23

Gus E · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-12T13:09:40.943

94

After python2.5 is installed try running:

sudo apt-get -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-overwrite" install python-profiler

This should pass the --force-overwrite flag to the underlying dpkg instance which will tell dpkg to overwrite one package's file with anothers.

edited Aug 12 '11 at 13:09

answered Aug 12 '11 at 02:41

Gus E

12

I should have mentioned that if you just have a .deb file, you can just run: sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite python-profiler.deb – Gus E Aug 12 '11 at 02:42

1 Answers1