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Tio TROM
Asked: 2018-09-10 07:17:24 +0800 CST

Cannot install VLC on Ubuntu 18.04 - missing dependencies

  • 772
tio@tio:~$ sudo apt install vlc
[sudo] password for tio: 
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:
 vlc : Depends: vlc-bin (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: vlc-plugin-base (= 3.0.1-3build1) but 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 is to be installed
       Depends: vlc-plugin-video-output (= 3.0.1-3build1) but 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 is to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-l10n (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-plugin-samba (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-plugin-skins2 (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-plugin-video-splitter (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-plugin-visualization (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
tio@tio:~$

I have Ubuntu 18.04 with main and universe repos active.

tio@tio:~$ apt-cache policy vlc vlc-bin vlc-plugin-base vlc-plugin-video-output
vlc:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.0.1-3build1
  Version table:
     3.0.1-3build1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages
vlc-bin:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.0.1-3build1
  Version table:
     3.0.1-3build1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages
vlc-plugin-base:
  Installed: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1
  Candidate: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1
  Version table:
 *** 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.0.1-3build1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages
vlc-plugin-video-output:
  Installed: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1
  Candidate: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1
  Version table:
 *** 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.0.1-3build1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages
tio@tio:~$
vlc

3 Answers

  1. With the help of the answers from here I fixed it this way:

    1. sudo apt remove vlc*
    2. sudo apt autoclean
    3. sudo apt autoremove
    4. sudo apt install vlc*

    Thank you very much people!

    • 1

  2. I had the same issues with installing VLC in Ubuntu on Cosmic i386. I could not resolve the "unmet dependencies" due to "broken packages being held";

    Running Terminal: sudo synaptic (It did not reveal any broken packages).
    Double check your Ubuntu version that main and universe repos are active.

    Terminal Input: sudo apt install vlc revealed the following:
    The following packages have unmet dependencies:

    vlc : Depends: vlc-bin (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Depends: vlc-plugin-base (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Depends: vlc-plugin-video-output (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Recommends:vlc-l10n (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify (= 3.0.4-2build)
      Recommends: vlc-plugin-samba (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Recommends: vlc-plugin-skins2 (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Recommends: vlc-plugin-video-splitter (= 3.0.4-2build1)
      Recommends: vlc-plugin-visualization (= 3.0.4-2build1)

E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

    To solve this, I ran:

    sudo apt clean
sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

    I ran a downgrade for all of the above dependencies, for example

    sudo apt install vlc-plugin-base=3.0.4-2build1 (or your specific build number)

    Do this for each dependency and then run;

    sudo apt install vlc* [**The asterisk is the key!**]

    Any remaining missing dependencies will be revealed and you can then downgrade additional residual dependencies and install VLC with all its recommended packages.

    Hope this helps someone it took me a week to work this one out.

    • 1

  3. These commands should do the work.

    sudo apt clean
sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install vlc*
    • 0