dpkg: error processing package util-linux (--configure)

Question

I seem to be having trouble updating my software. I'll just show my inputs and outputs so you can see what I'm up against. This is Ubuntu 17.04, 64 bit, Intel i7 processor. Any help would be appreciated.

~$ sudo apt-get update
Hit:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease
(...)
Fetched 508 kB in 1s (479 kB/s)                                                                
Reading package lists... Done

~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic but it is not installed
 linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic but it is not installed
 linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic (= 4.10.0-28.32) but it is not installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

Ok.

~$ sudo apt --fix-broken install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.10.0-21 linux-headers-4.10.0-21-generic linux-headers-4.10.0-28 linux-headers-4.10.0-28-generic linux-image-4.10.0-21-generic linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic
  linux-image-extra-4.10.0-21-generic linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic linux-signed-image-4.10.0-21-generic linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  linux-generic linux-headers-4.10.0-29 linux-headers-4.10.0-29-generic linux-headers-generic linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic linux-image-4.10.0-29-generic linux-image-extra-4.10.0-29-generic
  linux-image-generic linux-signed-generic linux-signed-image-4.10.0-29-generic linux-signed-image-generic
Suggested packages:
  fdutils linux-doc-4.10.0 | linux-source-4.10.0 linux-tools
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-headers-4.10.0-29 linux-headers-4.10.0-29-generic linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic linux-image-4.10.0-29-generic linux-image-extra-4.10.0-29-generic linux-signed-image-4.10.0-29-generic
The following packages will be upgraded:
  linux-generic linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic linux-signed-generic linux-signed-image-generic
5 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 75 not upgraded.
7 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/82.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 378 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
dpkg: error processing package util-linux (--configure):
 package util-linux is not ready for configuration
 cannot configure (current status 'half-installed')
Errors were encountered while processing:
 util-linux
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I then tried to reinstall the package util-linux.

~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall util-linux
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic but it is not going to be installed
 linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic but it is not going to be installed
 linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic (= 4.10.0-28.32) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.10.0-21 linux-headers-4.10.0-21-generic linux-image-4.10.0-21-generic linux-image-extra-4.10.0-21-generic linux-signed-image-4.10.0-21-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
Suggested packages:
  fdutils linux-doc-4.10.0 | linux-source-4.10.0 linux-tools
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 80 not upgraded.
7 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/21.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 70.4 MB of additional disk space will be used.
dpkg: error processing package util-linux (--configure):
 package util-linux is not ready for configuration
 cannot configure (current status 'half-installed')
Errors were encountered while processing:
 util-linux
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

So now I'm confused because I'm not sure which way the dependency is going.

Last I'll include my results for dpgk --configure -a.

~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic:
 linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic depends on linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-signed-image-generic:
 linux-signed-image-generic depends on linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-signed-image-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic:
 linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic depends on linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic (= 4.10.0-28.32); however:
  Package linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent processing triggers for systemd:
 systemd depends on util-linux (>= 2.27.1); however:
  Package util-linux is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package systemd (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving triggers unprocessed
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic:
 linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-4.10.0-28-generic is not installed.
 linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-signed-generic:
 linux-signed-generic depends on linux-signed-image-generic (= 4.10.0.28.29); however:
  Package linux-signed-image-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-signed-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:
 linux-generic depends on linux-image-generic (= 4.10.0.28.29); however:
  Package linux-image-generic is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package linux-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-image-extra-4.10.0-28-generic
 linux-signed-image-generic
 linux-signed-image-4.10.0-28-generic
 systemd
 linux-image-generic
 linux-signed-generic
 linux-generic

I don't want to forcibly delete util-linux because it seems like a pretty core component of the software. Ubuntu isn't happy about me trying to remove it.

Solution

I solved the problem by going to the Ubuntu package website and finding the util-linux package for my distribution. I downloaded it and then used the command:

~$ sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /home/me/Downloads/util-linux_2.29-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb

This reinstalled util-linux and after that I was able to fix the broken dependencies.