How do I fix the APT error "The following packages have unmet dependencies"?

Question

I bought a System76 laptop. However, every time I try to install something, I get this error (or something similar):

mike@mike-Lemur:~$ sudo apt-get install curl
Reading package lists... Done 
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
curl is already the newest version (7.47.0-1ubuntu2.2). 
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these: 
The following packages have unmet dependencies: 
 libgcc1:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.2.4) but it is not going to be installed 
 libgcrypt20:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.15) but it is not going to be installed 
 libgpg-error0:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.15) but it is not going to be installed 
 liblzma5:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.4) but it is not going to be installed 
 libpcre3:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.4) but it is not going to be installed 
 libselinux1:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.8) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

How do I fix this issue?

The error suggests Try 'apt-get -f install' Have you tried that yet ? — Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, May 30 '17 at 18:58
What did you install prior to this? You shouldn't see these dependencies for 32-bit packages in a standard 64-bit install. — chaskes, May 30 '17 at 19:02
@SergiyKolodyazhnyy I did, and it said apt-get -f install E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root? — Mike Williams, May 30 '17 at 19:18
@chaskes nothing that I'm aware of. I tried to install Wine right off the bat, and it gave me the error- — Mike Williams, May 30 '17 at 19:20
@MikeWilliams you need sudo, that's why it says permission denied — Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy, May 30 '17 at 19:23
Hard to know. I suggest you run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -f install && sudo apt-get upgrade — Panther, May 30 '17 at 19:24
Possible duplicate of How do I resolve unmet dependencies after adding a PPA? — Ravexina, Jun 02 '17 at 07:42

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 01 '17 at 20:51

2

Run this command on your system:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -f install && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

edited Jun 01 '17 at 20:51

Kaz Wolfe

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answered May 30 '17 at 22:17

Emma Marshall

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Emma, have a look here, please? – Fabby Jun 09 '17 at 20:12

How do I fix the APT error "The following packages have unmet dependencies"?

1 Answers1