Unable to install ffmpeg in Bionic, and held packages
I used to have ffmpeg installed on my system, but somehow – I don’t know how or when – it got uninstalled. So, I tried installing ffmpeg via Synaptic. But when I mark it for installation, it gets the red exclamation mark indicating a broken package.
As I looked into this, I also discovered that in the past few days my system says that I have three packages that are “kept back”, and, although the system says they are ready to be updated, they never do update. The three packages are:
libavcodec58
libavutil56
libswresample3
sudo apt list –upgradable gives this result:
libavcodec58/bionic 7:4.3-2~18.04.york0 amd64 [upgradable from: 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04]
libavutil56/bionic 7:4.3-2~18.04.york0 amd64 [upgradable from: 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04]
libswresample3/bionic 7:4.3-2~18.04.york0 amd64 [upgradable from: 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04]
sudo apt upgrade gives this result:
The following packages have been kept back:
libavutil56 libswresample3
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
I had the idea to just uninstall those three packages, and then try reinstalling them, but….. I didn’t do that, uninstalling any one of them via Synaptic gave me a message that a LONG list of packages would also be uninstalled – basically, every multimedia application I have, such as Audacity, VLC, etc.
I’ve been reading LOTS of answers to others’ questions on this and other sites, but unfortunately they all leave me even more confused about what is wrong and what to do. So, I turn here for help.
Why am I not able to upgrade these three packages? How do I fix that problem?
How do I install ffmpeg from Synaptic without getting a broken package error message?
Output of sudo apt-get --reinstall install libavcodec58 libavutil56 libswresample3:
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:
libavcodec58 : Depends: libx264-155 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
Output of apt-cache policy libavcodec58 libavutil56 libswresample3:
libavcodec58:
Installed: 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04
Candidate: 7:4.3-2~18.04.york0
Version table:
7:4.3-2~18.04.york0 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/apps/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
*** 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libavutil56:
Installed: 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04
Candidate: 7:4.3-2~18.04.york0
Version table:
7:4.3-2~18.04.york0 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/apps/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
*** 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
libswresample3:
Installed: 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04
Candidate: 7:4.3-2~18.04.york0
Version table:
7:4.3-2~18.04.york0 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/apps/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
*** 7:4.1.3-0ppa1~18.04 500
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
output of sudo apt upgrade:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
libavutil56 libswresample3
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
output of sudo apt update:
Ign:1 http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge InRelease
Ign:2 http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:3 https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial InRelease
Hit:4 https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security InRelease
Hit:6 http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge Release
Hit:7 https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com bionic InRelease
Hit:8 https://headsetapp.co/headset-electron/debian stable InRelease
Hit:9 http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/xUbuntu_18.04 InRelease
Hit:10 http://download.onlyoffice.com/repo/debian squeeze InRelease
Hit:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:12 https://www.collaboraoffice.com/repos/CollaboraOnline/CODE-ubuntu1804 ./ InRelease
Hit:13 http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/network:/messaging:/xmpp:/dino/xUbuntu_18.04 InRelease
Hit:14 http://repository.spotify.com stable InRelease
Hit:15 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates InRelease
Hit:16 https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic InRelease
Hit:17 http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu bionic Release
Hit:19 http://ppa.launchpad.net/morphis/anbox-support/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:20 https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-bionic InRelease
Hit:21 https://repo.skype.com/deb stable InRelease
Hit:23 http://ppa.launchpad.net/agornostal/ulauncher/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:24 https://ocean.surfshark.com/debian stretch InRelease
Ign:25 http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb stable InRelease
Hit:27 http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb stable Release
Hit:28 http://ppa.launchpad.net/alexlarsson/flatpak/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:29 http://ppa.launchpad.net/andreasbutti/xournalpp-master/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:30 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:31 http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb stable InRelease
Hit:32 http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org bionic InRelease
Hit:33 http://ppa.launchpad.net/atareao/atareao/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:34 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/ms-teams stable InRelease
Hit:35 http://ppa.launchpad.net/atareao/telegram/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Get:36 https://mega.nz/linux/MEGAsync/xUbuntu_18.04 ./ InRelease [2,473 B]
Hit:37 https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable InRelease
Hit:38 http://ppa.launchpad.net/audio-recorder/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:39 https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb preview InRelease
Hit:40 http://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt wheezy InRelease
Hit:41 http://ppa.launchpad.net/bit-team/stable/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:42 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:43 https://wire-app.wire.com/linux/debian stable InRelease
Hit:44 http://ppa.launchpad.net/cybolic/vineyard-testing/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:45 http://ppa.launchpad.net/danielrichter2007/grub-customizer/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Get:46 https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian stable InRelease [17.1 kB]
Hit:48 http://ppa.launchpad.net/diesch/stable/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:49 http://ppa.launchpad.net/gerardpuig/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:18 https://packagecloud.io/firstlookmedia/code/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:50 http://ppa.launchpad.net/i2p-maintainers/i2p/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:51 http://ppa.launchpad.net/maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:52 http://ppa.launchpad.net/mikhailnov/pulseeffects/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:54 http://ppa.launchpad.net/nextcloud-devs/client/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:22 https://packages.riot.im/debian bionic InRelease
Hit:55 http://ppa.launchpad.net/nilarimogard/webupd8/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:56 http://ppa.launchpad.net/noobslab/apps/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:57 http://ppa.launchpad.net/openshot.developers/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:58 http://ppa.launchpad.net/peek-developers/stable/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:59 http://ppa.launchpad.net/phoerious/keepassxc/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:60 http://ppa.launchpad.net/photoflare/photoflare-stable/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:61 http://ppa.launchpad.net/psi-plus/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:62 http://ppa.launchpad.net/rvm/smplayer/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:63 http://ppa.launchpad.net/sandromani/gimagereader/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:64 http://ppa.launchpad.net/stebbins/handbrake-releases/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Get:65 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76-dev/stable/ubuntu bionic InRelease [15.4 kB]
Hit:66 http://ppa.launchpad.net/teejee2008/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:67 http://ppa.launchpad.net/thomas.tsai/ubuntu-tuxboot/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:68 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/apps/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:69 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/cantata-qt/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:70 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/corebird/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:71 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ufleisch/kid3/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:72 http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/y-ppa-manager/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:73 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yg-jensge/shotwell/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:74 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yktooo/ppa/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Fetched 35.0 kB in 13s (2,664 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
3 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
Solution 1:
You have to purge problematic PPAs by
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
sudo ppa-purge ppa:cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport
and then install all possible updates with newest dependencies by
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
and finally install ffmpeg package from official repository by
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg=3.4.8-0ubuntu0.2