Steam cannot be installed. Package dependency problem

Question

I have tried to install Steam on my 64-bit Ubuntu 20.04 but each time I get the following errors:

~$: sudo apt-get install steam
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:
 steam:i386 : Depends: libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 (>= 17.3) but it is not going to be installed or
                       libtxc-dxtn0:i386 but it is not installable
              Depends: libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 but it is not going to be installed
              Recommends: mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I've tried this:

~$ apt-cache policy libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386
libgl1-mesa-dri:i386:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
     20.1~git2004290730.35ee6b~oibaf~b -1
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     20.0.4-2ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
libgl1-mesa-glx:i386:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
     20.0.4-2ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages

And this:

$ apt policy libgl1-mesa-dri
libgl1-mesa-dri:
  Installed: 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
  Candidate: 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 20.0.4-2ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Plus this:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update

And lastly, this, which returned nothing:

dpkg --get-selections | grep hold

And that hasn't helped.

What does `apt policy libgl1-mesa-dri` (without `:i386`) say? — Stephen Kitt, Jun 09 '20 at 06:07
@StephenKitt - It says I have the amd64 version... Added the output to my question. — Malady, Jun 09 '20 at 12:00
I was mostly interested in the installed version, to check if there was a version mismatch (given the 20.1~git2004290730.35ee6b~oibaf~b version listed in your `/var/lib/dpkg/status`). — Stephen Kitt, Jun 09 '20 at 12:03
I had a similar problem when I wanted to install steam.You have to manually install the required 32-bit (or i386) libraries.But if that's not possible for you and you still get those error messages , you can install the steam via [Flatpak](https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/06/steam-now-available-flatpak). The downside is that it requires a lot of redundant downloads but it works. — Parsa Mousavi, Jun 09 '20 at 12:23
@StephenKitt - Oh. I never saw that... Lemme rollback and I'll see what happens... — Malady, Jun 09 '20 at 12:30
Does this answer your question? [Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages](https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-problems-you-have-held-broken-packages) — karel, Jun 09 '20 at 12:36
@karel - Well, in spirit, in that I ended up downgrading... I'll make my own answer here. I'm avoiding things that do too many things automatically. Autoremove caused enough problems... — Malady, Jun 09 '20 at 12:39

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 09 '20 at 12:44

Downgrade some packages.

As this reports, I have a higher version than recommended. As with my previous question, downgrading fixed it.

$ apt-cache policy libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386
libgl1-mesa-dri:i386:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 20.0.4-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
     20.1~git2004290730.35ee6b~oibaf~b -1
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     20.0.4-2ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages

Trying to install that version of that package, leads to this:

$ sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri:i386=20.0.4-2ubuntu1
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:
 libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 : Depends: libdrm-amdgpu1:i386 (>= 2.4.100) but it is not going to be installed
                        Depends: libdrm-intel1:i386 (>= 2.4.38) but it is not going to be installed
                        Depends: libdrm-nouveau2:i386 (>= 2.4.66) but it is not going to be installed
                        Depends: libdrm-radeon1:i386 (>= 2.4.31) but it is not going to be installed
                        Depends: libdrm2:i386 (>= 2.4.75) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

So, I needed to downgrade all those dependent packages, try installing the above package again, and then try installing Steam again.

That did it.

@PyWalker2797 -As here says, https://askubuntu.com/a/190964/412701 : "apt-get install «pkg»=«version»" Like how I had "sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri:i386=20.0.4-2ubuntu1". — Malady, Jul 19 '20 at 12:52

Steam cannot be installed. Package dependency problem

1 Answers1