libssl1.0.0 doesn't satisfy libssl0.9.8 dependency?

Question

In Debian Wheezy, I'm trying to install the vmware-view-client package from the Ubuntu Software Center (because the open client won't work for my situation), but dpkg can't handle it. Synaptic says I have libssl1.0.0 installed (1.0.1c-4, along with -dev and -doc), but I get the following error message:

$ dpkg -i vmware-view-client_1.6.0-0ubuntu0.13.04_i386.deb 
(Reading database ... 154107 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace vmware-view-client 1.6.0-0ubuntu0.13.04 (using vmware-view-client_1.6.0-0ubuntu0.13.04_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement vmware-view-client ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of vmware-view-client:
 vmware-view-client depends on libssl0.9.8 (>= 0.9.8m-1); however:
  Package libssl0.9.8 is not installed.

dpkg: error processing vmware-view-client (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 vmware-view-client

Do I need to somehow get an earlier version of libssl (if so, how?) or can I somehow convince dpkg to use my version of libssl anyways?

Solution

0.9.8 is the ABI version (aka soversion), so, yes, you need to install the older version. The 0.9.8 and 1.0 ABIs are not compatible.

I'd suggest installing libssl0.9.8 in the normal manner, e.g., using the GUI or aptitude install libssl0.9.8. 0.9.8 is available in both 12.04 and 12.10 according to http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Then you should be able to install the vmware client.

Comments

[Nate Parsons]

Thanks! I got it from packages.debian.org/squeeze/i386/libssl0.9.8/download instead, but it worked!

[gertvdijk]

@NateParsons You should get it from your repository (Ubuntu in your case) to get security updates and not break upgrades. There's no reason for installing from other sources if your distribution provides it.

[Nate Parsons]

But I'm not running Ubuntu, I was just using its repository because VMWare doesn't provide any other way to download their debs.

[Nate Parsons]

Whoops, I thought I had. Question updated. It's configured with aptitude now.

[Hack-R]

Thanks. This helped with a Debian installation that had this problem. It's really too bad that 1.0.0 doesn't satisfy the 0.9.8 dependency AND only 1.0.0 is in Debian's apt repo.