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nrc1:/var/cache/apt# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libc6 : Depends: libc-bin (= 2.11.3-3) but 2.13-35 is installed
 locales : Depends: glibc-2.13-1 but it is not installable
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

I had this original Lenny install in use for thin client facility to students I successfully upgraded it to Squeeze long back During my leave for five long months, the other guy tried to install some things from Testing and Sid Now as I'm trying apt-get upgrade the above is the result

my current sources.list

deb http:// ftp .us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free
deb http:// ftp .us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-proposed-updates contrib non-free main
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates contrib non-free main

I have no idea how to cope up the machine is in use by nearly 900 students but has all old software

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There is no answer to this in this form. Try including more information, e.g. your sources.list; what you have done so far and what you're trying to achieve... – sr_ Nov 30 '12 at 13:02
2  
You shouldn't mix releases - that's why they are separate releases in the first place. And as @sr_ says: provide more information. – gertvdijk Nov 30 '12 at 13:02
Try using aptitude, it's pretty clever with these issues. – sr_ Nov 30 '12 at 14:02
Try apt-get dist-upgrade, that may resolve it. Make sure to actually read what it says its going to do before pressing Y, to make sure it isn't removing a bunch of stuff you want. – derobert Nov 30 '12 at 15:05

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

The installed libc-bin and locales packages are from Wheeze and do not fit to the libc6 package from squeeze, which makes problems as the dependencies are not consistent.

Try to downgrade libc-bin and locales:

aptitude install libc-bin=2.11.3-3 locales=2.11.3-3

or

apt-get install libc-bin=2.11.3-3 locales=2.11.3-3

Other possibilities for downgrading packages are listed here.

As the current libc6 version is 2.11.3-4, you might need to switch to it:

apt-get update
apt-get install libc6=2.11.3-4 libc-bin=2.11.3-4 locales=2.11.3-4

There are probably more packages that you need to uprade.

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Thank you very much for prompt and accurate solution -- gertvdijk, sr_,derobert and jofel. The downgrading solution did work well – uday bhatye Dec 1 '12 at 8:07

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