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Accepted
yukashima huksay
Asked: 2017-12-28 04:37:52 +0800 CST

How to fix unmet dependencies after removing python?

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I was struggling so much to install an application. And somewhere in comments someone had said I went brutal and did rm -rf /usr/lib/python2.7 and then I did the same. And after that I did sudo apt purge python2.7-minimal now my system is completely broken for example when I do sudo apt upgrade I get:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 gimp : Depends: python:any (>= 2.6.6-7~)
 libboost-mpi-python1.58.0 : Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
                             Depends: python (>= 2.7~) but it is not installed
                             Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 libboost-python1.58-dev : Depends: python-dev but it is not installed
                           Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
                           Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
                           Depends: python (>= 2.5) but it is not installed or
                                    python-celementtree but it is not installable or
                                    python-elementtree but it is not installable
 ndiff : Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
         Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-bs4 : Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
              Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-cairo : Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
                Depends: python (>= 2.7~) but it is not installed
                Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-chardet : Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
                  Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
                  Depends: python-pkg-resources but it is not installed
 python-dbus : Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
               Depends: python (>= 2.7~) but it is not installed
               Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-gi : Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
             Depends: python (>= 2.7~) but it is not installed
             Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-gobject-2 : Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
                    Depends: python (>= 2.7~) but it is not installed
                    Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-gtk2 : Depends: python (>= 2.7) but it is not installed
               Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
 python-html5lib : Depends: python-six but it is not installed
                   Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
                   Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-lxml : Depends: python (>= 2.7) but it is not installed
               Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
 python-pip : Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
              Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
              Recommends: python-all-dev (>= 2.6) but it is not installed
 python-setuptools : Depends: python-pkg-resources (= 20.7.0-1) but it is not installed
                     Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
                     Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-wheel : Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
                Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 python-xlib : Depends: python:any (< 2.8)
               Depends: python:any (>= 2.7.5-5~)
 speedtest-cli : Depends: python (>= 2.7) but it is not installed
                 Depends: python (< 2.8) but it is not installed
                 Depends: python-pkg-resources but it is not installed

And when I issue sudo apt-get -f install I get:

The following additional packages will be installed:
  python python-dev python-pkg-resources python-six python2.7-dev
Suggested packages:
  python-doc python-tk
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  python python-dev python-pkg-resources python-six python2.7-dev
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
21 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/533 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,465 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Setting up python2.7-minimal (2.7.12-1ubuntu0~16.04.2) ...
Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
python2.7: can't open file '/usr/lib/python2.7/py_compile.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing package python2.7-minimal (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python-minimal:
 python-minimal depends on python2.7-minimal (>= 2.7.11-1~); however:
  Package python2.7-minimal is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python-minimal (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          Errors were encountered while processing:
 python2.7-minimal
 python-minimal
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

What should I do now!? How can I fix what I've ruined!?

16.04

2 Answers

  1. Essential system services (like apt) depend upon Python, so it's likely that your system is now very badly broken.

    You have two choices:

    • You can manually reinstall each python package using dpkg
    • You can back up your data and do a clean install.

    The first choice is likely to be fast and fairly easy for skilled users. The second choice is likely to be faster and easier for most regular users.

    • 3
  2. Best Answer

    You can fix the issue if you have access to some ubuntu VPS that is working fine:

    apt download python2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib python2.7

    Then you have to copy the essential files to your own system with:

    sudo scp you@yourserver:/usr/lib/python2.7/*.py /usr/lib/python2.7/
sudo scp -r you@yourserver:/usr/lib/python2.7/plat-x86_64-linux-gnu /usr/lib/python2.7/
sudo scp -r you@yourserver:/usr/lib/python2.7/logging /usr/lib/python2.7/
sudo scp -r you@yourserver:/usr/lib/python2.7/encodings /usr/lib/python2.7/

    Then you should use dpkg for installing python:

    sudo dpkg -i python2.7-minimal_2.7.12-1ubuntu0~16.04.2_amd64.deb libpython2.7-stdlib_2.7.12-1ubuntu0~16.04.2_amd64.deb python2.7_2.7.12-1ubuntu0~16.04.2_amd64.deb

    Then you should let apt take care of everything itself:

    sudo apt-get install -f

    Then You can verify that apt is working fine with:

    sudo apt upgrade
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