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How do you fix unmet dependency when installing Cinnamon on Ubuntu 14.04?

I attached a bunch of info on what I've tried so far.

Attempt 1:

So I found this question on how-to install cinnamon on ubuntu 14.04. I tried the first ppa repository and it failed with "unmet dependency... cinnamon-screensaver".

Attempt 2:

I then used ppa-purge to get rid of that repository. Then did apt-get clean. Then I tried the second ppa repository in the how-to guide. I tried to install cinnamon again... and it failed the same way:

root@wheaton-ubuntu14:~# apt-get install cinnamon
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 cinnamon : Depends: cinnamon-screensaver (>= 2.6.0) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Attempt 3:

I then looked up how to fix unmet dependencies and found this guide with 300+ upvotes so I thought I was all set!

Attempt 4:

I then saw someone was successful with aptitude install cinnamon. But every time aptitude said "is this solution acceptable" cinnamon was still marked as "not installed". So I interrupted the interactive process.

Attempt 5:

I google'd the error and saw a debian thread somewhere with "oh there's a bug fix in git." but then the thread ends with "oh thanks" but no instructions on how to fix the issue.

Not sure where to go from here.

update - as per a request in the comments here is the requested info:

root@wheaton-ubuntu14:~# lsb_release -a; uname -a; apt-cache policy cinnamon cinnamon-screensaver; apt-get install cinnamon-screensaver
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
Release:    14.04
Codename:   trusty
Linux wheaton-ubuntu14 3.13.0-66-generic #108-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 7 15:20:27 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
cinnamon:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.6.12ubuntu1
  Version table:
     2.6.12ubuntu1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/lestcape/cinnamon/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
cinnamon-screensaver:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.6.4ubuntu1
  Version table:
     2.6.4ubuntu1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/lestcape/cinnamon/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 cinnamon-screensaver : Depends: gir1.2-webkit2-3.0 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

update 2 - another request from A.B user: see here

Community
  • 1
Trevor Boyd Smith
  • 244

1 Answers1

1

The package

cinnamon-screensaver

depends on

gir1.2-webkit2-3.0

and this depends on

gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0 (= 2.4.0-1ubuntu2)

(you haven't enabled trusty-updates, but that's not the problem).

Your problem is, that you have installed (manually or earlier by a PPA or something else) the version 2.4.3-1ubuntu2, as you can see in the output of the command which you have run:

# apt-cache policy gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0
gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0:
  Installed: 2.4.3-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.4.3-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 2.4.3-1ubuntu2 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.4.0-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

The solution is easier than you think:

Downgrade the package and because there is no repository with the wrong version in your system, we're done.

sudo apt-get install gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-3.0=2.4.0-1ubuntu2
sudo apt-get install -f
A.B.
  • 90,397
  • apt-get install cinnamon still fails with "unmet dependency cinnamon-screensaver" http://paste.ubuntu.com/13262841/ – Trevor Boyd Smith Nov 14 '15 at 16:42
  • however... when I tried aptitude install cinnamon I think I may be in luck because it seems to be installing... i'll post a pastebin for the output of the aptitude install: http://paste.ubuntu.com/13262967/ – Trevor Boyd Smith Nov 14 '15 at 16:45
  • I logged out... And now my graphics are all broken. Probably something caused by the new cinnamon install. – Trevor Boyd Smith Nov 14 '15 at 16:49
  • Run sudo apt-get install cinnamon-screensaver again and give me the output. – A.B. Nov 14 '15 at 16:49
  • Please see the most recent pastebin where I did apt-get install cinnamon and that installed cinnamon-screensaver – Trevor Boyd Smith Nov 14 '15 at 16:51
  • Ok, I have seen the output, but there are no errors only a warning. – A.B. Nov 14 '15 at 16:54
  • And this warning ... perhaps with sudo apt-get install python-minimal, but this package should already be installed. – A.B. Nov 14 '15 at 16:56
  • alright. restart seems to have fixed it. i am good to go I think. you were right about the downgrade from 2.4.3 to 2.4.0. the important part from the most recent pastebin shows: Downgrade the following packages: 1) libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0 [2.4.3-1ubuntu2 (now) -> 2.4.0-1ubuntu2 (trusty)] 2) libwebkitgtk-3.0-0 [2.4.3-1ubuntu2 (now) -> 2.4.0-1ubuntu2 (trusty)]. You were right about the downgrade being the thing to do. – Trevor Boyd Smith Nov 14 '15 at 17:24