dependency problems

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:25:37 -0500
Clay Weber <clay at claydoh.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 26, 2014 09:45:36 AM Thomas Blasejewicz wrote:
> > (2014/11/25 12:32), O. Sinclair wrote:
> > > On 24/11/2014 20:29, Thomas Blasejewicz wrote:
> > >> (2014/11/25 1:07), O. Sinclair wrote: On 24/11/2014 16:33,
> > >> Thomas Blasejewicz wrote:
> > >>>>> (2014/11/24 23:18), Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> > >>>>>> On Mon, 24 Nov 2014 22:56:34 +0900 Thomas Blasejewicz

> > > sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
> > > sudo -i
> > > apt-get update
> > > apt-get dist-upgrade

Some actions can't be performed by a user, because administrator, aka
root, aka superuser privileges are needed to do it.

On default *buntu installs a user can get those privileges by running
sudo [command], e.g.

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

instead of running sudo all the times, you can run
sudo -s
or as I did
sudo -i
followed by the commands without sudo, IOW

rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

when finished push
Ctrl+D
to exit root privileges.

Run
man sudo
for more informations. You should learn how to read and understand man
pages.

> When a package manager is performing it's duties, there is what is
> called a "lock file", the  presence of which tells it to not allow
> more than one instance running at the same time - it would be not fun
> if two or more users were trying to install/uninstall/update all at
> the same time. 
> 
> This lock file is normally removed when the tasks are complete, but
> it is possible for it to be left behind due to a crash, power loss,
> or similar thing.

Correct.
 
> >> rm

Run
man rm
man rmdir
and sometimes it's better not to remove, but to move, so consider to
read
man mv
too

> >> $ sudo apt-get update
> This is refreshing the list of available packages

Correct.
Run
man apt-get

> >> $ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
> This downloads and installs your updates.
> The last two steps are basically command line versions of what Muon
> Updater does.

Important is the difference between upgrade and dist upgrade. I don't
know Muon, I use(d) Synaptic. For Synaptic the user can chose between
upgrade and dist-upgrade. I don't know, but I suspect that it's
possible for Muon too.

"upgrade
Used to install the newest versions of all packages currently installed
on the system from the sources enumerated in /etc/apt/sources.list(5).
Packages currently installed with new versions available are retrieved
and upgraded; under no circumstances are currently installed packages
removed, nor are packages that are not already installed retrieved and
installed. New versions of currently installed packages that cannot be
upgraded without changing the install status of another package will be
left at their current version. An update must be performed first so
that apt-get knows that new versions of packages are available.

dist-upgrade
In addition to performing the function of upgrade, this
option also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new
versions of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system,
and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the
expense of less important ones, if necessary." -
http://linux.die.net/man/8/apt-get

Consider to read about backports,
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports . IMO you shouldn't
have backports enabled, or at least use pinning.

I didn't read the Wiki completely, but I notice that running "gksu
gedit", IOW running gedit with root privileges is mentioned. Never ever
do this, it could cause issues, the user's dconf permissions or
some other important file(s) could change to root privileges and
software that runs as user, then has got no access to it. Install and
use nano or sublime text to get easy to use editors, that don't cause
this issue.

Regards,
Ralf