Broken packages and unmet dependency installation QGIS, PostgreSQL and postgis Ubuntu 14.04

Question

I am aware that this could be a duplicate topic but I am struggling for a several days. I upgraded QGIS from 2.8 to 2.18 and after that everything get broken. I couldn't use PostGIS extension on pgadmin3.

I figured out that there were a conflict with a libgdal1h: if installed, it removes other libraries used by PostGIS and vice versa.

I tried several tutorial about how to install QGIS, like for example:

How do I get and install the latest version of QGIS in Ubuntu?

Install QGIS 2.14 Essen on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial

I tried every suggestion reported on line, like for example:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/351899/qgis-quantum-gis-install-fails-unmet-dependencies

https://askubuntu.com/questions/621406/dist-upgrade-in-ubuntu-14-04-uninstalled-qgis-and-results-in-unmet-dependencies

Where to find a version of libgeos-c1 compatible with libgeos-3.5.0?

QGIS install on Ubuntu 14.04 fails

Always, the reply of sudo apt-get install qgis python-qgis is:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:


python-qgis : Depends: python-qt4-sql but it is not installable
               Depends: python-qgis-common (= 1:2.14.8+20trusty-ubuntugis) but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: python-psycopg2 but it is not installable
               Depends: python-qscintilla2 but it is not installable
               Depends: python-jinja2 but it is not installable
               Depends: python-markupsafe but it is not installable
               Depends: python-pygments but it is not installable
               Depends: python-yaml but it is not installable
               Depends: python-pyspatialite but it is not installable
               Depends: libqgispython2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libqgis-analysis2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libqgis-core2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libqgis-gui2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libqgis-networkanalysis2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
               Depends: libqgis-server2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
               Recommends: liblwgeom-dev but it is not installable
 qgis : Depends: gdal-abi-2-1-0 but it is not installable
        Depends: libgdal20 (>= 2.0.1) but it is not installable
        Depends: libgeos-c1v5 (>= 3.4.2) but it is not installable
        Depends: libqgis-analysis2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: libqgis-app2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: libqgis-core2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: libqgis-gui2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: libqgis-networkanalysis2.14.8 but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: qgis-providers (= 1:2.14.8+20trusty-ubuntugis) but it is not going to be installed
        Depends: qgis-common (= 1:2.14.8+20trusty-ubuntugis) but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: qgis-plugin-globe but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: qgis-plugin-grass but it is not going to be installed
        Recommends: qgis-provider-grass but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I have removed all the packages and the libraries so I do not have any library related to postgis, postgres and QGIS with the Synaptic Package Manager and all with the commands:

sudo apt-get purge qgis
sudo apt-get autoremove qgis
sudo apt-get --purge remove qgis
sudo apt-get update

But the problem is not solved yet.

I tried to remove the repo of ubuntugis and/or debian on the file /etc/apt/sources.list.

Nothing.

And I do not understand why, using this source http://qgis.org/ubuntugis/ I still have issues about the dipendences.

What should I do?

I am planning to format my laptop hoping this will help me with broken packages.. for the broken packages, I have already tried:

sudo apt-get update –fix-missing
sudo apt-get install -f

but nothing fixed.

Answer 1

I had faced a similar problem installing qgis. I finally got it installed using aptitude package manager.

Try this first:

sudo apt-get update then sudo apt-get -f install.

If that doesn't work try the higher level package manager aptitude.

sudo aptitude install qgis python-qgis qgis-plugin-grass

It gives multiple solutions like this and you can select one.

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] n
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

      Downgrade the following packages:                                                                    
1)      libqt4-declarative [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]
2)      libqt4-network [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]    
3)      libqt4-opengl [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]     
4)      libqt4-script [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]     
5)      libqt4-sql [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]        
6)      libqt4-sql-sqlite [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)] 
7)      libqt4-svg [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]        
8)      libqt4-xml [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]        
9)      libqt4-xmlpatterns [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]
10)     libqtcore4 [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]        
11)     libqtdbus4 [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]        
12)     libqtgui4 [4:4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1~xenialoverlay1~1 (now) -> 4:4.8.7+dfsg-5ubuntu2 (xenial)]         


Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] y
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  libqt4-declarative libqt4-network libqt4-opengl libqt4-script libqt4-sql libqt4-sql-sqlite libqt4-svg libqt4-xml libqt4-xmlpatterns libqtcore4 libqtdbus4 libqtgui4 
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libdrm-dev{a} libfcgi0ldbl{a} libgl1-mesa-dev{a} libglade2-0{a} libglu1-mesa-dev{a} libjs-jquery-ui{a} libjs-leaflet{a} liblwgeom-dev{a} libqca2{a} libqca2-plugin-ossl{a} libqca2-plugins{a} 
  libqgis-analysis2.18.3{a} libqgis-app2.18.3{a} libqgis-core2.18.3{a} libqgis-customwidgets{a} libqgis-gui2.18.3{a} libqgis-networkanalysis2.18.3{a} libqgis-server2.18.3{a} libqgisgrass7-2.18.3{a} 
  libqgispython2.18.3{a} libqjson0{a} libqt4-dbus{a} libqt4-designer{a} libqt4-dev{a} libqt4-dev-bin{a} libqt4-help{a} libqt4-opengl-dev{a} libqt4-qt3support{a} libqt4-scripttools{a} libqt4-test{a} 
  libqtassistantclient4{a} libqwt5-qt4{a} libspatialindex4v5{a} libx11-xcb-dev{a} libxcb-dri2-0-dev{a} libxcb-dri3-dev{a} libxcb-glx0-dev{a} libxcb-present-dev{a} libxcb-randr0-dev{a} libxcb-render0-dev{a} 
  libxcb-shape0-dev{a} libxcb-sync-dev{a} libxcb-xfixes0-dev{a} libxdamage-dev{a} libxext-dev{a} libxfixes-dev{a} libxshmfence-dev{a} libxxf86vm-dev{a} mesa-common-dev{a} python-cycler{a} python-dateutil{a} 
  python-future{a} python-gdal{a} python-glade2{a} python-httplib2{a} python-jinja2{a} python-markupsafe{a} python-matplotlib{a} python-matplotlib-data{a} python-pygments{a} python-pyparsing{a} 
  python-pyspatialite{a} python-qgis python-qgis-common{a} python-qscintilla2{a} python-qt4{a} python-qt4-sql{a} python-shapely{a} python-sip{a} python-tz{a} python-yaml{a} qdbus{a} qgis qgis-common{a} 
  qgis-plugin-grass qgis-plugin-grass-common{a} qgis-provider-grass{a} qgis-providers{a} qgis-providers-common{a} qt4-designer{a} qt4-linguist-tools{a} qt4-qmake{a} x11proto-damage-dev{a} 
  x11proto-dri2-dev{a} x11proto-fixes-dev{a} x11proto-gl-dev{a} x11proto-xext-dev{a} x11proto-xf86vidmode-dev{a} 
The following packages are RECOMMENDED but will NOT be installed:
  qt-at-spi 
0 packages upgraded, 88 newly installed, 12 downgraded, 0 to remove and 57 not upgraded.

Answer 2

I encountered similar problems when updating from QGIS 2.16 to 2.18.

Try this workaround, that finally worked for me:

In the error message, look out for the lines

Depends: ... but it is not installable

Before installing qgis, you may need to install those packages manually one by one. If they install, try again to install QGIS, with some or all broken dependencies solved.

It might help to stick to the debian or ubuntugis repo, but avoid to install packages from both.

In my case, it was gdal that blocked the proper installation of QGIS.

---

UPDATE from comments

It seems that GDAL version conflicts avoid the proper installation.

According to http://postgis.net/install/ you have three choices for Postgis on Ubuntu:

• Ubuntugis

This gives you postgis 2.2 compiled for Postgres 9.3. You can get QGIS 2.14.3 from the same repo, or use http://qgis.org/ubuntugis for QGIS 2.18.0 or 2.14.8. You will get GDAL 2.1.0 with that. This seems to be the best choice currently.

• PostgreSQL Apt Repo

The one you used, but not compatible with QGIS from ubuntugis.

• Debiangis

They offer Postgis 2.1.4, 2.2.2 and 2.3.0. You can get QGIS LTR from there too, or use http://qgis.org/debian for 2.18.0, compiled against GDAL 1.10 for trusty and GDAL 1.11.3 for xenial.

• Another choice are the default Ubuntu packages

They offer Postgis 2.1.2 for Postgres 9,3, built with libgdal1h (GDAL 1.10.1) for trusty. The xenial package is Postgis 2.2.1 compiled against libgdal1i (GDAL 1.11.3). If you install QGIS from http://qgis.org/debian or http://qgis.org/debian-ltr, you get QGIS 2.18.0 or 2.14.8 compiled against the same GDAL versions for trusty and xenial.

You get broken dependencies if you try to combine packages from different sources, so DON'T DO IT.

Answer 3

The following worked for me on Ubuntu 16.04 and QGIS 2.18:

sudo apt remove *qgis*
sudo apt purge *qgis*

Then:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install qgis python-qgis 

Answer 4

Following the Answer by AndreJ, which mentions the conflicts from different reps, I deleted the lines deb http://qgis.org/ from the sources.list, you can do that through nano, which is an editor you run on the terminal, and leave only the following linesdeb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable/ubuntu trusty main:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

this opens the editor, just delete the qgis.org lines, exit through "Ctrl + x" and save; the file should look like this

#deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 17.1 _Rebecca_ - Release i386 20141126]/ trusty contrib $
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntugis/ubuntugis-unstable/ubuntu trusty main

then sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get install qgis

Answer 5

I think the trick is to have both ubuntugis and ubuntugis-unstable added to your repositories list.

I then installed gdal 2.1.0 (I needed GeoPackage support, so I don't know if this is essential), from that starting point I can install postgis-2.2.2 and qgis 2.18 quite happily.

Answer 6

As @AndreJ suggested, I created a new Virtual machine completely clean. I successfully installed QGIS 2.14 and Postgresql 9.6.

All the steps and the comments are reported on that gist:

https://gist.github.com/GloryPassarello/dc23d443434a5221f0f981813a622e0c

The issue seems to be related only with PostGis: trying to install these packages:

libgdal1h
libgeos-c1
liblwgeom-2.3-0

one by one unistalled QGIS: it seems to be an issue with libgdal1h and libgdal1 (see libgdal1 and libgdal1h conflict) and I remember that these 3 libraries brought me to the initial conflict between qgis postgresql and postgis.

I found an interesting repo about that:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=839182

What should I do to fix that problem? what do you suggest?

Answer 7

I am planning to format my laptop hoping this will help me with broken packages.. for the broken packages

... If you are prepared to go this far, you might as well try to upgrade first to the latest Ubuntu LTS 16.04, which has more update repositories for many GIS packages. In 16.04, I tested the following to upgrade to the latest QGIS 2.18 without a problem:

1. remove QGIS & remove anything existing GIS-related entries in /etc/apt/sources.list

   sudo apt-get remove qgis --purge
   sudo apt-get autoremove --purge
   

2. add the following two lines to /etc/apt/sources.list:

   deb http://qgis.org/debian xenial main
   deb-src http://qgis.org/debian xenial main
   

3. add QGIS repository

   sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 073D307A618E5811
   #note, 073D307A618E5811 is the public key for the specific qgis repo here.
   sudo apt-add-repository add  http://qgis.org/debian
   #note, may require `sudo apt-get install software-properties-common` first
   

4. install QGIS:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install qgis
   

Answer 8

Its very simple... make sure you uncomment the sources repositories from the source list. etc/apt/sources/sourcelists

Make sure you only comment the CDROM option only and leave the other lists uncommented.

Answer 9

@AndreJ's answer is still correct, but here is a summarized (and perhaps more current) version for those who just want to install qgis 2.18 with a specific gdal version:

Use/enable only one of the following ppas:

# Option A: contains qgis 2.18.25 but locks you to gdal 1.x
deb http://qgis.org/ubuntu-ltr trusty main

# Option B: contains qgis 2.18.16 and gdal 2.2 - this is probably what most people are looking for
deb http://qgis.org/ubuntugis trusty main

Explanation: If both ppas are enabled (as of today), the dependencies associated with Option A will be picked (since it has the slightly more updated version of qgis 2.18), making it very difficult to install gdal 2.x (which really has to be done via Option B). It is not easy to upgrade directly from one option to the other since they really represent two rather different sets of dependencies that are mutually exclusive.

Answer 10

Try to install via flatpak

flatpak install --user https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.qgis.qgis.flatpakref