Failed installation of package breaks apt-get

Question

I just installed Ubuntu 18.04 for the first time. Excited to play with some GPU codes, I installed CUDA via the deb (local) for 17.10 option, as described on the Nvidia CUDA page. I know 17.10 != 18.04, but I had read of people having success with this.

I followed the installation instructions provided by Nvidia:

sudo dpkg -i cuda-repo-ubuntu1710-9-2-local_9.2.88-1_amd64.deb
sudo apt-key add /var/cuda-repo-<version>/7fa2af80.pub
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cuda

The last command resulted in an error when installing nvidia-396:

Get:1 file:/var/cuda-repo-9-2-local  nvidia-396 396.26-0ubuntu1 [80.0 MB]
(Reading database ... 167630 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../nvidia-396_396.26-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking nvidia-396 (396.26-0ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cuda-repo-9-2-local/./nvidia-396_396.26-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGLX_indirect.so.0', which is also in package libglx-mesa0:amd64 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cuda-repo-9-2-local/./nvidia-396_396.26-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Maybe I bit off more than I could chew, so I decided to move onto less challenging things. I proceeded to install some basic packages, such as git, but upon doing so, I got this error:

> sudo apt-get install git
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:
 cuda-drivers : Depends: nvidia-396 (>= 396.26) but it is not going to be installed
 git : Depends: liberror-perl but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: git-man (> 1:2.17.1) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: git-man (< 1:2.17.1-.) but it is not going to be installed
 libcuda1-396 : Depends: nvidia-396 (>= 396.26) but it is not going to be installed
 nvidia-396-dev : Depends: nvidia-396 (>= 396.26) but it is not going to be installed
 nvidia-opencl-icd-396 : Depends: nvidia-396 (>= 396.26) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

Trying the suggested sudo apt --fix-broken install command results in the same nvidia-396 error encountered above.

It appears my attempted installation of cuda has put apt-get into a state such that it will no longer install or remove any packages, due to an unmet dependencies error. Worded more simply, installing cuda has broken apt-get completely.

How can I get my package manager working again?

Solution 1

I fix this issue only with:

sudo apt-get -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-overwrite" install --fix-broken

Solution 2

Similar to the command of StrugglingProgrammer, I had to make sure I would uninstall all cuda packages (the cuda-demo*, e.g.)

You can check which those might be with:

dpkg -l | grep -i cuda
dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia

So maybe try either

sudo apt-get remove --purge cuda-* libcuda* nvidia* 

(for the whole batch) or select more specifically like:

sudo apt-get remove --purge cuda-drivers libcuda* cuda-runtime* cuda-8-0 cuda-demo*

For me specifially (after trying a failed install of cuda-8-0 and libcudnn6) it was:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia* cuda-drivers libcuda* cuda-runtime* cuda-8-0 cuda-demo*

Hope that may be of help.

Solution 3

I resolved this by removing everything installed in a single apt-get remove command:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia* cuda-drivers libcuda1-396 cuda-runtime-9-2 cuda-9.2 cuda-demo-suite-9-2  cuda

Solution 4

I excuted

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers
sudo apt-key adv --fetch-keys http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1804/x86_64/7fa2af80.pub
sudo bash -c 'echo "deb http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1804/x86_64 /" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cuda.list'
sudo bash -c 'echo "deb http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/machine-learning/repos/ubuntu1804/x86_64 /" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cuda_learn.list'

(b) Install CUDA 10.1 packages, including the CuDNN library

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cuda-10-1
sudo apt install libcudnn7

Check this link I didnt remove any driver just installed above stuff and updated .profile

nano ~/.profile
# set PATH for cuda 10.1 installation
if [ -d "/usr/local/cuda-10.1/bin/" ]; then
    export PATH=/usr/local/cuda-10.1/bin${PATH:+:${PATH}}
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda-10.1/lib64${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}}
fi

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Comments

[StrugglingProgrammer]

Tried sudo apt-get purge nvidia* without any luck

[MatsK]

Did you run sudo apt --fix-broken install? In your question, you omitted sudo?

[StrugglingProgrammer]

Yes. It results in the same error mentioned earlier.

[MatsK]

When you write "I know 17.10 != 18.04, but I had read of people having success with this." is they following the NVIDIA way or do they install it like this ? askubuntu.com/questions/1030886/…

[StrugglingProgrammer]

@MatsK - Note that this question is asking how to get apt working again (without reinstalling the OS), rather than getting CUDA toolkit installed.

[StrugglingProgrammer]

I attempted to install CUDA exactly as I've described in the original question.

[escapecharacter]

I did the remove --purge approach too to fix my broken install, but when I reinstall I get the same errors as you did the first time. Did it "just work" for you?

[escapecharacter]

Resolution: I was trying to install on 18.04; I gave up and have downloaded 16.04 and will try with that one.

[temple]

this fixed my problem.

[Lucas Azevedo]

it also fixed my problem, but an explanation on why it does would be nice. Thank you very much for the solution, anyways!

[malanb5]

Thanks for this

[wbadry]

A magician indeed. Thanks

[clifgray]

This also worked for me but could we get some details on what exactly this is doing?

[Lawhatre]

It didn't worked for me. Got Errors were encountered while processing: nvidia-dkms-418 nvidia-driver-418 cuda-drivers cuda-runtime-10-1 cuda-demo-suite-10-1 cuda-10-1 cuda E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)