The Synaptic Package Manager shows an error message whose details contain:  E: gnome-control-center-data: package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration E: gnome-control-center: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured   Please explain what happen in my Ubuntu and how to fix that, thank you
1892
I can't update my system because it freezes while installing a third-party update (zramswap-enabler)! Sometimes I get the following message in Update manager:  Could not initialize the package information An unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package information. Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message: E:The package zramswap-enabler needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.  I tried to remove the zramswap-enabler, but it's impossible because I get the following message: dpkg: error processing zramswap-enabler (--remove):  Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should  reinstall it before attempting a removal. Errors were encountered while processing:  zramswap-enabler E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)  Actually I would really reinstall that package, but it is unable to do it! If I remove this third-party PPA then the system is warning me about a very very serious problem. So why can I not install/reinstall/remove/update this package and why freezes the updater if I try to update?
27223
Recently, i was installing the new version from 13.04 to 13.10 ubuntu while also watching a video.  Well, guess what happened, my desktop crashed for like 4 minutes and then upon gaining access to the desktop again everything seemed messed up like box symbols where characters should be.  I know it was a bad idea but i decided to reboot halting the installation process and now i am stuck with this error.  dpkg: error processing unity-lens-photos (--configure): package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should reinstall it before attempting configuration.  Errors were encountered while processing: untity-lens-photos e: subprocess /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1).   And it pretty much pops up everytime i try to upgrade, or install anything.  This was after i finished updating the rest of my files.  I have tried many things and read many threads.  I am really lost right now, please help.  Also i have no access to a panel and i am currently trying everything in the terminal.  Attempts to install a gnome panel have been halted by the error.
466
Occasionally, when I'm installing stuff, I get an error like the following:  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:  package1 : Depends: package2 (&gt;= 1.8) but 1.7.5-1ubuntu1 is to be installed E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.   How can I resolve this?
86587
There is a glitch on the Ubuntu Software Center and whenever I open it an error appears and it keeps loading and never opens.  Why does this happen?  I have installed Ubuntu 13.04 on a disk and partitioned it.  Please help me and ask for excess information if you need it.  If you know of any duplicates please show me them!!  I get the following error in a terminal  SystemError: E:Type '&lt;!DOCTYPE' is not known on line 1 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list   The /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list file contains a HTML document.
18776
I have seen many softwares such as Update Manager and Synaptic Package Manager, they wait if some other program is using the /var/lib/dpkg/lock and is locked. How can we do this through the Terminal? I saw apt-get's manual but didn't find anything useful.
51333
I'm trying to install nodejs and npm, however, it fails. This is my terminal:  sudo apt-get install nodejs npm 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: nodejs : Conflicts: npm E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.   What to do? I'm kinda lost :(
1331
So I keep trying to install things on my laptop and whenever I try to use sudo apt-get I get the same errors every  time,  SystemError: E:Read error - read (5: Input/output error), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.   Also whenever I try to open software Center through my desktop Icon it will just freeze leaving me to force quit.  If I try to use the command software-center in my terminal I get the longest list in the world which is,   che.open() Traceback (most recent call last):   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gi/overrides/GLib.py", line 629, in &lt;lambda&gt;     return (lambda data: callback(*data), user_data)   File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/pkginfo_impl/aptcache.py", line 261, in open     self._cache = apt.Cache(progress)   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 105, in __init__     self.open(progress)   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 150, in open     self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress) SystemError: E:Read error - read (5: Input/output error), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. 2013-10-13 10:13:52,685 - softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache - INFO - aptcache.open() Traceback (most recent call last):   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gi/overrides/GLib.py", line 629, in &lt;lambda&gt;     return (lambda data: callback(*data), user_data)   File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/pkginfo_impl/aptcache.py", line 261, in open     self._cache = apt.Cache(progress)   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 105, in __init__     self.open(progress)   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 150, in open     self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress) SystemError: E:Read error - read (5: Input/output error), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened. 2013-10-13 10:13:57,365 - softwarecenter.db.pkginfo_impl.aptcache - INFO - aptcache.open() Traceback (most recent call last):   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gi/overrides/GLib.py", line 629, in &lt;lambda&gt;     return (lambda data: callback(*data), user_data)   File "/usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/db/pkginfo_impl/aptcache.py", line 261, in open     self._cache = apt.Cache(progress)   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 105, in __init__     self.open(progress)   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/apt/cache.py", line 150, in open     self._cache = apt_pkg.Cache(progress) SystemError: E:Read error - read (5: Input/output error), E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.   That's only about one-tenth of the list which is too long to read. I need help, if anyone has an answer please respond
82359
I have had trouble with sound (now fixed) since upgrading to 19.10, and in the middle of trying the common solutions, the Software Center "disappeared". I got aware of quite late, so I don't know what caused it.  Anyway, would you know how to reinstall it ? Trying sudo apt-get install software-center doesn't work.
49233
Linux Distro: Lubuntu 19.04  My system is working fine but I just get distracted when I update my packages because of this error which I don't know how to fix. I've been finding some related topics and I tried their solution but still fail to fix the error.  sudo apt update Hit:1 http://repo.steampowered.com/steam precise InRelease Hit:2 http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable InRelease               Ign:3 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease                    Hit:4 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release                      Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco InRelease Hit:6 http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu disco InRelease Hit:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates InRelease            Hit:9 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security InRelease           Hit:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/nilarimogard/webupd8/ubuntu disco InRelease Error: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.systemd1.UnitMasked: Unit -.mount is masked. Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree        Reading state information... Done All packages are up to date.   Edit: Here is the results of the terminal whenever I use update. Sorry for inconvenience.
85364
I'm rather new to Ubuntu and I'm trying to run update-manager on Ubuntu 13.10. I get:  jacopo@jacopo-laptop:~$ update-manager  Traceback (most recent call last):   File "/usr/bin/update-manager", line 28, in &lt;module&gt;     from gi.repository import Gtk   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gi/__init__.py", line 27, in &lt;module&gt; from ._gi import _API ImportError: No module named 'gi._gi' Error in sys.excepthook: Traceback (most recent call last):   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport_python_hook.py", line 64, in apport_excepthook     from apport.fileutils import likely_packaged, get_recent_crashes   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/__init__.py", line 5, in &lt;module&gt;     from apport.report import Report   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/report.py", line 30, in &lt;module&gt; import apport.fileutils   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/fileutils.py", line 23, in &lt;module&gt;     from apport.packaging_impl import impl as packaging   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apport/packaging_impl.py", line 20, in &lt;module&gt; import apt File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/apt/__init__.py", line 21, in &lt;module&gt; import apt_pkg ImportError: No module named 'apt_pkg'  Original exception was: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/update-manager", line 28, in &lt;module&gt; from gi.repository import Gtk File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/gi/__init__.py", line 27, in &lt;module&gt; from ._gi import _API ImportError: No module named 'gi._gi'   As far as I have understood, this is a problem related to the fact that I should have python3.4 installed. I installed it in /usr/local/lib, but I always get the same error. In this way I can't even upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04.
42166
It shows this error  oot@kali:~# apt-get install software-center Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree        Reading state information... Done Package software-center is not available, but is referred to by another package. This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or is only available from another source  E: Package 'software-center' has no installation candidate
55673
Earlier, I had a problem with a package, and I (wrongly) ran this:  rm -r /var/lib/dpkg/*   See also .  Now when I try to upgrade, I get this:  E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it? masoud@masoud-PC:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade  E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?   and when I use: sudo dpkg --configure -a   I get this:  dpkg: error: cannot scan updates directory `/var/lib/dpkg/updates/': No such file or directory     and for sudo apt-get upgrade -f get:  Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree        Reading state information... Done Correcting dependencies... failed. The following packages have unmet dependencies:  ia32-libs : Depends: ia32-libs-multiarch but it is not installable  wine1.4 : Depends: wine1.4-i386 (= 1.4.1-0ubuntu5) but it is not installable E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages. E: Unable to correct dependencies
12954
Err http://archive.canonical.com natty InRelease     Err http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security InRelease                Err http://extras.ubuntu.com natty InRelease                             Err http://security.ubuntu.com oneiric-security Release.gpg   Temporary failure resolving ‘security.ubuntu.com’ Err http://archive.canonical.com natty Release.gpg   Temporary failure resolving ‘archive.canonical.com’ Err http://extras.ubuntu.com natty Release.gpg   Temporary failure resolving ‘extras.ubuntu.com’ Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric InRelease Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates InRelease Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com natty-backports InRelease Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric Release.gpg   Temporary failure resolving ‘gb.archive.ubuntu.com’ Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com oneiric-updates Release.gpg   Temporary failure resolving ‘gb.archive.ubuntu.com’ Err http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com natty-backports Release.gpg   Temporary failure resolving ‘gb.archive.ubuntu.com’  Reading package lists... Done W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/InRelease       W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-updates/InRelease   W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-backports/InRelease   W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-security/InRelease   W: Failed to fetch http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/InRelease   W: Failed to fetch http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/InRelease   W: Failed to fetch http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving ‘archive.canonical.com’ W: Failed to fetch http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-security/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving ‘security.ubuntu.com’ W: Failed to fetch http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving ‘extras.ubuntu.com’ W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving ‘gb.archive.ubuntu.com’ W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric-updates/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving ‘gb.archive.ubuntu.com’ W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/natty-backports/Release.gpg  Temporary failure resolving ‘gb.archive.ubuntu.com’ W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.   This is what I'm seeing when I try to run sudo apt-get update. I did an update on my instance yesterday and am now experiencing this.
36642
I've been trying to install steam all day and I've been encountering all kinds of problems, but I'd like a little bit of help with this specific one:  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:  steam:i386 : Depends: libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages
106086
I prefer using Synaptic to Software Center. So I decide to remove the software-center package, but ubuntu-desktop needs to be removed as well. A warning is shown, saying ubuntu-desktop is needed to ensure proper updates.   To which extent doesubuntu-desktop effect on updates?    Let's say I removed ubuntu-desktop then my Ubuntu would be treated as server mode. So does that means I'll get updates geared toward server i.e. I'll get packages that unnecessary for my desktop?
63803
When I try to install any software, I encounter this error, and therefore I cannot update.  Preconfiguring packages ... dpkg: error: parsing file '/var/lib/dpkg/status' near line 51245 package 'oracle-xe':  mixed non-coinstallable and coinstallable package instances present N: Ignoring file 'gcl' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has no filename extension N: Ignoring file 'gcl' in directory '/etc/apt/sources.list.d/' as it has no filename extension E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (2)
5332
For a specific package, can I find out why it is installed?  So, can I see or it's manually installed, or that it is installed as a dependency of another package? Or that it is installed as part of the distro?