apt-get fails with unmet dependencies: Breaks, Depends, Recommends - what does it all mean?

Question

I am attempting to patch the Dirty Cow vulnerability by running the following command on my Ubuntu 12.04 server:

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

This results in the follow error(s):

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 lsb-base : Breaks: upstart (< 1.12.1-0ubuntu8)
            Breaks: upstart:i386 (< 1.12.1-0ubuntu8)
 plymouth : Depends: initramfs-tools but it is not going to be installed
            Recommends: plymouth-theme-ubuntu-text but it is not going to be installed or
                        plymouth-theme
 udev : Depends: initramfs-tools (>= 0.92bubuntu63) but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: util-linux (> 2.15~rc2)
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

What do I need to do in order to fix these errors?

12.04 is indeed supported - EOL is in april NEXT year @IporSircer — Orphans, Oct 27 '16 at 13:06
Does that exact same error happen when you run sudo apt-get update alone without the && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade? — Software_Programineer, Oct 27 '16 at 13:09
@Software_Programineer - Yes that did get rid of the errors, but it hasn't upgraded the kernel. I'm attempting to patch the Dirty Cow vulnerability. After typing **sudo uname -a** it returns **3.2.0-25-virtual** — richelliot, Oct 27 '16 at 16:33
I would personally do update first then 2nd run upgrade then dist-upgrade 3rd. Does running upgrade help with the dependencies? — Software_Programineer, Oct 27 '16 at 17:26
@Software_Programineer - Great advice! That worked. Why would executing those commands in that order prevent dependency issues? — richelliot, Oct 28 '16 at 09:20

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 28 '16 at 12:29

I recommend to fix the dependencies dist-upgrade is complaining about to run these commands in order separately to update and upgrade and thusly correct any dependencies that are not currently being met.

sudo apt-get update

then

sudo apt-get upgrade

then

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Together update with upgrade has helped correct a lot of issues I've stumbled into in the past. Update helps upgrade know where what when and how to upgrade.

A simplified example would be you have v.1, while dist-upgrade was requiring you to be in v.2 which running update only got you to v.1.5 while upgrade finished the job and got you to v.2 making your system welcoming and ready for dist-upgrade.

Glad to hear it helped!

apt-get fails with unmet dependencies: Breaks, Depends, Recommends - what does it all mean?

1 Answers1