Debian 9.4 stretch - unmet dependencies

Question

I'm trying to get a game server started using SRCDS but whenever I try to get the dependencies using this command:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386; sudo apt update; sudo apt -f install mailutils postfix curl wget file bzip2 gzip unzip bsdmainutils python util-linux ca-certificates binutils bc tmux lib32gcc1 libstdc++6 libstdc++6:i386 lib32tinfo5

I get the following error:

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:
 lib32gcc1 : Depends: libc6-i386 (>= 2.2.4) but it is not going to be installed
 lib32tinfo5 : Depends: libc6-i386 (>= 2.16) but it is not going to be installed
 libstdc++6:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.18) but it is not going to be installed
                   Depends: libgcc1:i386 (>= 1:4.2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I've tried using fixes around the internet, such as apt-get -f install, which didn't work. I still get the same error. I tried updating my sources.list to the following, but that also didn't work.

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
#                   OFFICIAL DEBIAN REPOS
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#

###### Debian Main Repos
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ stable-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ stable-updates main contrib non-free

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security stable/updates main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian-security stable/updates main

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main

Anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

Have you tried manually installing the missing dependencies? An example would be running:

apt-get install lib6c

That package (and others) can also be obtained here: https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=libc6

Answer 2

With apt the important is to run non violent strategy.

• as few redondant explicit package references as necessary (let apt manage dependencies)
• be careful with libc !
• run your command without lib32gcc1 libstdc++6 libstdc++6:i386 lib32tinfo5
• try apt remove temporarily the broken packages, until apt install -f gets clear
• try apt upgrade and get it clear.
• apt-cache policy to explore package candidates
• apt install few package at a time

To have visibility, try:

dpkg --get-selections | grep -e libgcc1 -e libc6.i386

apt-cache policy libgcc1 libc6.i386