Score:-1

apt --fix-broken install removed a lot of programs. What should I have done?

cn flag

I needed to install teamviewer. It was complaining about (next example was from an attempt to reinstall git)

You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 git : Depends: git-man (< 1:2.17.0-.) but 1:2.17.1-1ubuntu0.7 is to be installed
 teamviewer:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.17) but it is not going to be installed
                   Depends: libdbus-1-3:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                   Depends: libexpat1:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                   Depends: libfontconfig1:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                   Depend

I did

apt --fix-broken install

I should have been suspicious when it told me it would free 8GB... I said "yes go ahead".

A lot of my software is now not available anymore, that was working perfectly fine. I'm confused. It seemed to delete instead of fix. I did NOT do sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade would that be an issue?

user535733 avatar
cn flag
Apt is very clever...but in a very non-human way. If you tell apt that you want A and B and C installed, it will try very hard to obey that command. It doesn't know that you assumed D and E and F would remain untouched. If E is blocking B from being installed, then E will be removed.
user535733 avatar
cn flag
Kudos for reading your output and being suspicious! My personal view is that apt is like a beloved pet: It has familiar behavior under most circumstances, and can be trusted within specific conditions...but strange noises should indeed be investigated immediately.
uz flag
Jos
Look in `/var/log/apt/history.log` and see what exactly has been uninstalled, then reinstall that and try again.
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