"curl : Depends: libcurl4 (= 7.61.0-1ubuntu2.2) but it is not going to be installed" on Ubuntu 18.10 with PHP 7.2.10

Question

I am struggling with installing cURL module in Ubuntu 18.10. While upgrading from 17.10 to 18.10 cURL was removed/deleted. Now when I try to execute the command

sudo apt-get install php7.2-curl

I get this error:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  php7.2-curl :
  Depends: libcurl4 (>= 7.44.0) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

---

sudo apt-get install curl

gives the error

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  curl : Depends: libcurl4 (= 7.61.0-1ubuntu2.2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Solution 1

The problem: When preparing your dist-upgrade, looks like you made mistakes:

• You failed to disable a 17.10 repository.
• You failed to uninstall non-Ubuntu software, and did not disable those PPAs.

Now you are stuck with a mixture of wrong-version packages which are (understandably) blocking apt. We would usually call this a partial or incomplete upgrade. All this information is from the output you provided.

The solution: You have two options:

1. Clean up the mess.

   • Uninstall all PPA and other non-Ubuntu software, and disable the sources they came from.
   • Disable the 17.10 repo.
   • Then run an apt update and then an apt dist-upgrade to get you as close to stock 18.10 as possible.
   • Then, one by one, start adding back non-Ubuntu sources and software.

2. If you don't know how to do #1, then preserve your data and do a clean-install of 18.10.

Solution 2

SIMPLE SOLUTION: (worked for me)

sudo apt remove libcurl4
sudo apt install curl

Solution 3

After I removed the package libcurl4, my apache stopped starting and shows error 502. Be careful when removing this package.

Comments

[Mustafa Taheri]

can you please suggest how can this be fixed by 1st option as I can't install fresh 18.10. Please tell me the sequence of commands so that I can clear this mess.

[user535733]

If you cannot clean-install 18.10, the you must keep your system packages clean, release-upgrade on schedule, and other basic maintenance. Bad news, sorry - there is no single set of magic incantations to solve your problem: You must learn the skills required to do each step, including reading your output and understanding how the package manager works. AskUbuntu's format is poorly suited to this kind of learning - I suggest opening a thread in our sibling site ubuntuforums.org, where you can have days or weeks of interactive hand-holding with experts while you learn.

[Mustafa Taheri]

hey, @user535733 just need some of your help I have removed all the repo which include 17.10 and bionic in there title as they are not of 18.10 but there are still some of them and I am unable to judge whether to remove them or not. Adding the image in Que to refer with name Other Software List.

[user535733]

Re-read the answer above. The relevant instruction is clear.

[Mustafa Taheri]

I have solved that by your instruction. thanx, a lot brother @user535733. You have saved me...

[Cecil Curry]

Note: for a command-line snippet safely purging all previously installed PPAs and PPA packages (complete with dry-run preview for additional safety), see this accepted StackOverflow answer.

[user2342558]

This is the ONLY solution that worked for me on Ubuntu 17.04! And the simplest at all!!!!!many thanks!

[Lorenz Keel]

Could you add details of the reason why apache showed that error and how you fixed it? It may be useful for the ones that read your answer.

[Anatoly Gorchuk]

I haven't solved this problem yet. After I removed this package, I had to completely change the Apache2 settings because the server stopped working. The problem turned out to be much more serious. And reinstalling the package libcurl4 didn't help. I want to warn others not to uninstall the package libcurl4 unnecessarily. I am using ubuntu 20.04