GNU-Octave won't install because of package conflicts

Question

I am trying to install GNU-Octave in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS form the Ubuntu Software Center. I am getting the following error:

Package dependencies cannot be resolved

This error could be caused by required additional software packages which are missing or not installable. Furthermore there could be a conflict between software packages which are not allowed to be installed at the same time.

The following packages have unmet dependencies:

octave: Depends: libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1) but 1:4.9.1-0ubuntu1 is to be
installed
        Depends: libglpk36 (>= 4.51) but 4.52.1-2build1 is to be installed
        Depends: liboctave3 (= 4.0.0-3ubuntu2~octave~trusty1) but 4.0.0-3ubuntu2~octave~trusty1 is to be installed
        Depends: libgl1-mesa-glide3 but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: libportaudio2 (>= 19+svn20101113) but 19+svn20140130-1 is to be installed
        Depends: libqt4-network (>= 4:4.5.3) but 4:4.8.5+git192-g085f851+dfsg-2ubuntu4.1 is to be installed
        Depends: libqt4-opengl (>= 4:4.5.3) but 4:4.8.5+git192-g085f851+dfsg-2ubuntu4.1 is to be installed
        Depends: libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.7.0~beta1) but 4:4.8.5+git192-g085f851+dfsg-2ubuntu4.1 is to be installed
        Depends: libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.8.0) but 4:4.8.5+git192-g085f851+dfsg-2ubuntu4.1 is to be installed
        Depends: libstdc++6 (>= 4.6) but 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04 is to be installed
        Depends: octave-common (= 4.0.0-3ubuntu2~octave~trusty1) but 4.0.0-3ubuntu2~octave~trusty1 is to be installed

Is this a common issue? I am not sure which packages are causing the conflict, or if there is a way to successfully install Octave.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 05 '18 at 08:12

Faced similar issue: Resolved after downgrading dependent packages.

Error:

The following packages have unmet dependencies: octave : Depends: libarpack2 (>= 2.1) but it is not going to be installed Depends: libcholmod3.0.6 but it is not going to be installed Depends: liboctave3 (= 4.0.0-3ubuntu9) but it is not going to be installed Depends: libosmesa6 (>= 10.2~) but it is not going to be installed Recommends: libopenblas-base but it is not going to be installed or libatlas3-base but it is not going to be installed.

Just run: sudo aptitude install octave

(Accept downgrading of libraries,faced no issues after that)

user@user:~/home$ sudo aptitude install octave

The following NEW packages will be installed: aglfn{a} epstool{a} gnuplot-data{a} gnuplot-qt{a} gnuplot-tex{a} libaec0{a} libamd2.4.1{a} libarpack2{a} libblas-common{a} libblas3{a} libcamd2.4.1{a} libccolamd2.9.1{a} libcholmod3.0.6{a} libcxsparse3.1.4{a} libfltk-gl1.3{a} libfltk1.3{a} libgfortran3{a} libgl2ps0{a} libglpk36{a} libgraphicsmagick++-q16-12{a} libgraphicsmagick-q16-3{a} libhdf5-10{a} liblapack3{a} libmagick++-6.q16-5v5{a} liboctave4{a} libopenblas-base{a} libosmesa6{ab} libplot2c2{a} libpstoedit0c2a{a} libqhull7{a} libqrupdate1{a} libqt4-svg{a} libqt5scintilla2-12v5{a} libqt5scintilla2-l10n{a} libsz2{a} libtext-unidecode-perl{a} libumfpack5.7.1{a} octave octave-common{a} octave-doc{a} pstoedit{a} tex-common{a} texinfo{a} 0 packages upgraded, 43 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 34.5 MB of archives. After unpacking 154 MB will be used. The following packages have unmet dependencies: libosmesa6 : Depends: libglapi-mesa (= 11.2.0-1ubuntu2) but 17.0.7-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 is installed. Internal error: found 2 (choice -> promotion) mappings for a single choice. The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

 Keep the following packages at their current version:

1) libosmesa6 [Not Installed]
2) octave [Not Installed]

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] n

The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

 Downgrade the following packages:

1) libgl1-mesa-glx [17.0.7-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 (now) -> 11.2.0-1ubuntu2 (xenial)]

2) libglapi-mesa [17.0.7-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 (now) -> 11.2.0-1ubuntu2 (xenial)]

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] Y

The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:

libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa

The following NEW packages will be installed:

aglfn{a} epstool{a} gnuplot-data{a} gnuplot-qt{a} gnuplot-tex{a} libaec0{a} libamd2.4.1{a} libarpack2{a} libblas-common{a} libblas3{a} libcamd2.4.1{a} libccolamd2.9.1{a} libcholmod3.0.6{a} libcxsparse3.1.4{a} libfltk-gl1.3{a} libfltk1.3{a} libgfortran3{a} libgl2ps0{a} libglpk36{a} libgraphicsmagick++-q16-12{a} libgraphicsmagick-q16-3{a} libhdf5-10{a} liblapack3{a} libmagick++-6.q16-5v5{a} liboctave4{a} libopenblas-base{a} libosmesa6{a} libplot2c2{a} libpstoedit0c2a{a} libqhull7{a} libqrupdate1{a} libqt4-svg{a} libqt5scintilla2-12v5{a} libqt5scintilla2-l10n{a} libsz2{a} libtext-unidecode-perl{a} libumfpack5.7.1{a} octave octave-common{a} octave-doc{a} pstoedit{a} tex-common{a} texinfo{a} 0 packages upgraded, 43 newly installed, 2 downgraded, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 34.7 MB of archives. After unpacking 154 MB will be used.

Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] Y

Get: 1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/octave/stable/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 liboctave4 amd64 4.2.2-1~octave~xenial2 [6,734 kB] Get: 2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libblas-common amd64 3.6.0-2ubuntu2 [5,342 B] . . . Setting up octave (4.2.2-1~octave~xenial2) ... Setting up octave-doc (4.2.2-1~octave~xenial2) ... Setting up pstoedit (3.70-1ubuntu2) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu10) . . .

Octave is installed successfully now.

user@user:/home$ octave --version

GNU Octave, version 4.2.2 Copyright (C) 2018 John W. Eaton and others. This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Octave was configured for "x86_64-pc-linux-gnu".

Additional information about Octave is available at http://www.octave.org.

Please contribute if you find this software useful. For more information, visit http://www.octave.org/get-involved.html

Read http://www.octave.org/bugs.html to learn how to submit bug reports. user@user:~/home$

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 05 '15 at 01:52

1

You must install dependencies before installing octave. A dependency is a file that something you are trying to install requires for it's operation.

So, to install all the dependencies OCTAVE requires, follow these steps

Open terminal.
Type sudo apt-get build-dep octave.
Enter password and follow instructions.

This will install all the dependencies that octave requires. Source - here.

After this Go to software center and install octave. Hope it helps!

answered Sep 05 '15 at 01:52

kashish

1,332

Many thanks. I still get the following message: "The following packages have unmet dependencies: unity-control-center : Depends: libcheese-gtk23 (>= 3.4.0) but it is not going to be installed Depends: libcheese7 (>= 3.0.1) but it is not going to be installed E: Build-dependencies for octave could not be satisfied." – user49540 Sep 08 '15 at 15:56
Run sudo apt-get install libcheese7 && sudo apt-get install libcheese-gtk23 in terminal and retry. – kashish Sep 08 '15 at 16:44

GNU-Octave won't install because of package conflicts

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