Ubuntu – Cannot install Adobe or Skype due to ia32-libs error

adobedependenciesmultiarchskype

I don't usually post on such forums, but I finally gave up on figuring out what's going on here and I need some help.

I need to install Adobe Reader. I am running Ubuntu 12.04 Precise x64 on Intel Core 2 Duo:

$ uname -a
Linux Edison 3.2.0-26-generic #41-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 14 17:49:24 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I get the following error by attempting to "sudo apt-get install acroread":

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 acroread : Depends: ia32-libs (>= 20080808) but it is not going to be installed
            Depends: nspluginwrapper but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

If I try to install "sudo apt-get install ia32-libs", I get:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 ia32-libs : Depends: ia32-libs-multiarch
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Finally, if I try to install "sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-multiarch", I get:

ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 : Depends: bluez-alsa:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                            Depends: libgettextpo0:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                            Depends: gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                            Depends: gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:i386 but it is not going to be installed
                            Depends: gtk2-engines:i386 but it is not going to be installed
.
.
.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Best Answer

I had a similar problem with broken dependencies when trying to install wine and acroread, and a complaint when trying to install ia32-libs-multiarch, just after upgrading to 12.04 from 11.04 (passing over 11.10). It seems that some ppa's I had in 11.04 installed newer versions of applications in the system. After upgrading, the remains of these apps seemed to do some mess in the dependencies.

The solution that seems to work (until now), was found on a german ubuntu board (http://forum.ubuntuusers.de, posts from user Lasall):

First a downgrade is required and done with the following: create the 'preferences' file:

sudo vi /etc/apt/preferences

and insert the following lines:

Package: *       
Pin: release a=precise*
Pin-Priority: 2012

Pin-Priority must be greater than 1000.

Then you may downgrade the offending applications with:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Then you may install packages that complained about dependencies, like sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-multiarch, or sudo apt-get install ia32-libs.

Finally, you should remove the file you just created:

sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences

because else no new updates would be found.

Hope this helps you too!

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