Ubuntu – Unable to update Google Chrome stable on Ubuntu LTS 12.04

google-chromeubuntu 12.04

When attempting to run sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable, I'm presented with the following message

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 google-chrome-stable : Depends: lib32gcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1) but it is not installable
                        Depends: lib32stdc++6 (>= 4.6) but it is not installable
                        Depends: libc6-i386 (>= 2.11) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

When I attempt to install lib32gcc1 for example, I get the message 

Package lib32gcc1 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'lib32gcc1' has no installation candidate
  1. What is causing the issue i.e. why are the packages broken?
  2. How do I resolve the issue?

Best Answer

This is due to a packaging bug in the Chrome repository.

You may use this solution from the chromium bug tracker until the Google-chrome-stable package is updated on the repository.

You can repackage and install it like so:

$ apt-get download google-chrome-stable
$ dpkg-deb -R google-chrome-stable_30.0.1599.101-1_i386.deb 304017
$ sed -i 304017/DEBIAN/control \
  -e 's/30.0.1599.101-1/30.0.1599.101-2~304017/' \
  -e 's/lib32gcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), lib32stdc++6 (>= 4.6), //' \
  -e 's/libc6-i386 (>= 2.11), //'

$ sudo chown root:root 304017/opt/google/chrome/chrome-sandbox
$ sudo chmod 4755 304017/opt/google/chrome/chrome-sandbox

$ dpkg-deb -b 304017
$ sudo dpkg -i 304017.deb

Credits goes to this user.

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