unable to install gcc-multilib after upgrading to 14.04

Question

I recently upgraded from 12.04 to 14.04. After upgrading things started to break.

I am getting crt1.o: No such file: No such file or directory. So, I tried to install gcc-multilib, but, that is also running into errors.

$ sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib
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:
 gcc-multilib : Depends: gcc-4.8-multilib (>= 4.8.2-5~) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I tried

$ sudo apt-get -o Debug::pkgProblemResolver=yes dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Starting pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Starting 2 pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Done
Done
Starting pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Starting 2 pkgProblemResolver with broken count: 0
Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

I tried to post the output of the following commands but I am unable to do it.

cat /etc/apt/sources.list
cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*

How can I resolve this?

 $ sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8-multilib

 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:
  gcc-4.8-multilib : Depends: lib32gcc-4.8-dev (= 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
                    Depends: libx32gcc-4.8-dev (= 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
 E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

 $ sudo apt-get install lib32gcc-4.8-dev

 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:
  lib32gcc-4.8-dev : Depends: lib32gcc1 (>= 1:4.8.2-19ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
                    Depends: libx32gcc1 (>= 1:4.8.2-19ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
                    Depends: lib32asan0 (>= 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
                    Depends: libx32asan0 (>= 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) but it is not going to be installed
 E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

$ sudo apt-get install lib32gcc1 libx32gcc1 lib32asan0 libx32asan0

 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:
  lib32gcc1 : Depends: gcc-4.9-base (= 4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1) but 4.9.1-0ubuntu1 is to   be installed
  libx32gcc1 : Depends: gcc-4.9-base (= 4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1) but 4.9.1-0ubuntu1 is    to be installed
 E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.



 $ apt-cache policy lib32gcc-4.8-dev  lib32gcc1 gcc-4.9-base

 lib32gcc-4.8-dev:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 4.8.2-19ubuntu1
  Version table:
     4.8.2-19ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
 lib32gcc1:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
     1:4.9.1-0ubuntu1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
 gcc-4.9-base:
  Installed: 4.9.1-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4.9.1-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4.9.1-0ubuntu1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     4.9-20140406-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

Link to the output of sudo apt-get update: http://paste.ubuntu.com/9810181/

Solution

I do not often use aptitude, but in case of problems with different gcc versions and unmet dependencies, apt-get is some times unable to correct problems saying "you have held broken packages"

That's the day, you should install aptitude, and try to install the package you wish. It clearly shows all dependencies and makes not only one suggestion.

First suggestions is often the same apt-get would do, but if you click "no" aptitude will show you another one, which maybe fits your needs better.

Give it a try!

---

Answer is a little late, but I often searched for problems like these and was happy about different solutions.

Comments

[user368823]

I have already tried the following steps sudo apt-get autoremove sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade sudo dpkg --configure -a

[g_p]

If you have added any third party ppa, disable that from Software and Updates--> Other Software. Also post the output of sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8-multilib

[user368823]

@g_p: Updated with the output o sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8-multilib. Also removed 2rd paty ppa's. Thanks!

[user368823]

Ran both "sudo apt-get update" followed by "sudo apt-get upgrade", I still the get the same errors.

[user368823]

Updated the question with the output of apt-cache policy lib32gcc-4.8-dev lib32gcc1 gcc-4.9-base

[g_p]

Can you post the output of sudo apt-get update on paste.ubuntu.comand provide a link in question.

[user368823]

Update the question with the link to the output of sudo apt-get update