FileZilla: The following packages have unmet dependencies

Question

I am trying to install FileZilla 3.19 but I get this error when running apt-get install filezilla:

Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree        Reading state information... Done Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable distribution that some required packages have not yet been created or been moved out of Incoming. The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies.  filezilla : Depends: libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.9.14) but 1.6.18-0ubuntu4.3 is to be installed
             Depends: libfilezilla0 but it is not going to be installed
             Depends: libgnutls30 (>= 3.4.2) but it is not installable
             Depends: libnettle6 but it is not installable
             Depends: libpugixml1v5 (>= 1.7) but it is not installable
             Depends: libstdc++6 (>= 5.2) but 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3 is to be installed
             Depends: libwxbase3.0-0v5 (>= 3.0.2+dfsg) but it is not installable
             Depends: libwxgtk3.0-0v5 (>= 3.0.2+dfsg) but it is not installable E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

How do I fix this?

Solution 1

You have the GetDeb package repository configured to use the Xenial packages even though your other packages are for Trusty. You need to edit the relevant sources.list file and replace xenial with trusty. Here's one automated way to do it and update the package list:

sudo sed -i -e 's/xenial-getdeb/trusty-getdeb/' /etc/apt/sources.list{,.d/*.list}
sudo apt-get update

Then run

apt-cache policy filezilla

to identify the version you want to install. apt-cache lists package versions and their originating source lines. Choose one that has “trusty” in the source line. Now you re-install the filezilla package in the correct version while fixing package problems. Replace <VERSION> according to you findings from the previous step and run:

sudo apt-get install -f filezilla=<VERSION>

Solution 2

In this website you can see the list of FileZilla packages that are available from the repositories of each Ubuntu version still with official support. As you can see, the latest release of FileZilla -- 3.19.0-1ubuntu1 -- is only available for Ubuntu 16.10, which has not even been released yet. If your Mint distro is based on Trusty, from the normal repositories you can only get access to a three years old version of FileZilla -- 3.7.3-1ubuntu1.

Now, as you say in your comments, you did a distro update (to an unstable distro?). That is a very risky method to get access to specific packages, as it can mess up other dependencies, which happened in your case. If you want to upgrade, it's always recommended to do a clean installation.

Actually, there is a much more safe method to get access to newer packages, without changing the distro:

• download the specific .deb file you are interested on (look in here and select according to your PC architecture)
• (via a Terminal) go to the downloaded file's folder and install package with sudo dpkg -i file.deb
• run sudo apt-get install -f to make sure there are no broken dependencies.

There you have a newer package in an older, stable distribution, without need to risk messing your OS.

Comments

[Admin]

Have you tried running sudo apt-get install -f?

[Admin]

And have you put any packages on hold?

[user85798]

@ParanoidPanda I've tried that, but just get "Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade."

[andrew.46]

@bwv869 Is aptitude any help: sudo aptitude install filezilla may show a working solution on your system...

[user85798]

@andrew.46 Nope, tried that. I just get 'No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed. 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.'

[user85798]

If I can't solve this I might just re-install the OS tbh. Never doing dist-uprade again!

[doug]

show apt-cache policy filezilla The libdbus-1-3 version it's requiring is in wily-updates but the version of libdbus-1-3 you have installed is in trusty. So also what are you running? (the assumption would be trusty

[user85798]

@doug filezilla: Installed: (none) Candidate: 3.19.0-1~getdeb1 Version table: 3.19.0-1~getdeb1 0 500 http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu/ xenial-getdeb/apps amd64 Packages 3.7.3-1ubuntu1 0 500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[user85798]

I'm actually running Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon. I know I know. So yes, Trusty is the base package.

[doug]

Well that getdeb package is for 16.04

[David Foerster]

Please edit your post, when you want to add information. Especially file or program output listings (with the help of the {} button in the editor toolbar) are much more readable there; alternatively you can use a pastie service for longer listings and include the link of your pastie in your question. Overall it’s best to have everything relevant in one place. Additionally, comments may be deleted for various reasons.

[David Foerster]

Also, Linux Mint is off topic here, but questions with a bounty cannot be flagged for closing.

[Richard DiSalvo]

i had the same problem. for me, the solution was solving this problem first -- askubuntu.com/questions/218783/… . then the usual installation worked.