Ubuntu 18.04 Broken Dependencies and Held Packages

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Upgrades fail with unmet dependencies and held package warnings.

Environment & Reproduction

Common on systems mixing PPAs, pinned versions, or partial upgrades.

Root Cause Analysis

Repository mismatch and manual version holds block dependency resolution.

Quick Triage

List held packages and verify enabled repository set consistency.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Run apt-cache policy, apt-mark showhold, and simulate upgrade with apt -s.

Solution – Primary Fix

Remove conflicting holds, disable problematic PPAs, and run apt –fix-broken install.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use ppa-purge to revert third-party packages to official repository versions.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Dist-upgrade completes cleanly and package state is fully configured.

Rollback Plan

Restore snapshot or package list backup if critical software downgrades fail.

Prevention & Hardening

Document and limit PPA usage on managed Ubuntu 18.04 fleets.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Unable to correct problems, held broken packages, dependency is not satisfiable.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

View all Ubuntu 18.04 LTS tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

Ubuntu packaging policy and apt pinning documentation.