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Johannes Lemonde
Asked: 2022-04-20 05:25:13 +0800 CST

In general, what to do when specific package versions are not available?

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I am trying to install a deb from an official webpage (in this case Klayout), and when running sudo apt install ./path-to-the-executable.deb, I get an error for specific library versions being not installable (although newer versions are available).

Note that I would like a general answer. The klayout example is only an example. This question might get marked as a duplicate, but all answers I found elsewhere were specific solutions that did not explain why the fix worked.

Example output when trying to install:

klayout                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
└── Depends:                                                                                                                                                                                                                
    ├── libruby2.7 (>= 2.7.0) but it isn't in the cache                                                                                                                                                                     
    └── libpython3.8 (>= 3.8.2) but it isn't in the cache

Thanks!

apt

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If the specific package versions are not available for your Ubuntu version then the deb package is not compatible with your Ubuntu version. You have the following options:

    1. Return to the download source you got that package from, and try to find another package which is compatible with your Ubuntu version. If the source claims that the package should be compatible with exactly that Ubuntu version, file a bug report with them.
    2. Upgrade to an Ubuntu version (or, in extremis, to a different Linux distribution) for which there is a compatible package of the software.
    3. Compile the software from source for your system.

    Note however that the message "isn't in the cache" does not necessarily mean that the package version isn't available at all. It's possible that apt just doesn't know where to get it from. It might just be a matter of adding a package repository. If that is the case, it should be mentioned in the installation documentation of the software you're trying to install.

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