Error while installing or upgrading with apt

Question

I was trying to upgrade debian 9 to 10 but when I tried to run sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get upgrade and sudo apt-get full-upgrade, they all got this error message:

    optiplex@optiplex:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 linux-image-generic-lts-xenial : Depends: linux-firmware but it is not installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

I tried running

apt --fix-broken install

but then i just got this error message:

 optiplex@optiplex:~$ sudo apt --fix-broken install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  linux-image-4.9.0-8-amd64
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  linux-firmware
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-firmware
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 10 not upgraded.
3 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/33.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 127 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  linux-firmware
Install these packages without verification? [y/N] y
(Reading database ... 514688 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-firmware_1.127.24_all.deb ...
Unpacking linux-firmware (1.127.24) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-firmware_1.127.24_all.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/lib/firmware/cis/PE-200.cis', which is also in package firmware-linux-free 3.4
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-firmware_1.127.24_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Could anybody help me with this?

---

EDIT:

I was going through the instructions given by GAD3R but I have a slightly different error message this time whenever I trie to do anything with apt:

    dpkg: error processing package snapd (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 snapd
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

---

EDIT 2:

I got as far as doing apt-get upgrade but I keep getting errors:

... Selecting previously unselected package x11proto-dev.
Preparing to unpack .../513-x11proto-dev_2018.4-4_all.deb ...
Unpacking x11proto-dev (2018.4-4) ...
Preparing to unpack .../514-xbrlapi_5.6-10_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xbrlapi (5.6-10) over (5.4-7+deb9u1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../515-xscreensaver-data_5.42+dfsg1-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xscreensaver-data (5.42+dfsg1-1) over (5.36-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../516-xscreensaver-gl_5.42+dfsg1-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xscreensaver-gl (5.42+dfsg1-1) over (5.36-1) ...
Preparing to unpack .../517-xserver-xephyr_2%3a1.20.4-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xserver-xephyr (2:1.20.4-1) over (2:1.19.2-1+deb9u5) ...
Preparing to unpack .../518-xterm_344-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xterm (344-1) over (327-2) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /tmp/apt-dpkg-install-3w5XWy/270-libel-api-java_3.0.0-2_all.deb
 /tmp/apt-dpkg-install-3w5XWy/303-libjsp-api-java_2.3.4-2_all.deb
 /tmp/apt-dpkg-install-3w5XWy/361-libwebsocket-api-java_1.1-1_all.deb
 /tmp/apt-dpkg-install-3w5XWy/433-plymouth_0.9.4-1.1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I am running Debian 9 on an Optiplex 755 PC

Thank you for your time!

Nikolai.

Answer 1

To upgrade debian 9 to 10 you should have only the following lines in your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/ buster/updates main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main

Disable the third party repository under /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory.

In your case you have a ubuntu-xenial repository enabled ( which provide the linux-image-generic-lts-xenial package) it will break your system.

Then run :

sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-image-amd64
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt dist-upgrade

As said @Stephen Kitt , the linux-firmware_1.127.24_all.deb belong to Ubuntu Trusty which cause the error code (1), it should be removed : apt purge linux-firmware.

To solve the following error (post-removal script):

Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/linux-firmware_1.127.24_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Edit the /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-firmware.postrm file and replace its content with:

#!/bin/bash
/bin/true

To solve the following error (post-installation script):

subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
snapd
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

edit the /var/lib/dpkg/info/snapd.postinst as follows:

#!/bin/bash
/bin/true

Update:

Backup the /var/lib/dpkg/status and /var/lib/dpkg/status-old then replace status file by status-old:

sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status.bak1
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status-old.bak1
sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/lib/dpkg/status

Then run :

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt clean
sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt update 
sudo apt upgrade

Answer 2

Okay,

I have edited my sources.list file and it now looks like this:

    #deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main non-free contrib
#deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main non-free contrib

# stretch-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
#deb http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main non-free contrib
#deb-src http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main non-free contrib

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

#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty main restricted universe multiverse 
#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse 
#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse 
#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-proposed main restricted universe multiverse 
#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/ buster/updates main
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main

I had a look in the sources.list.d

and inside were a number of repositories:

google-chrome.list
google-chrome.list.save
oibaf-ubuntu-graphics-drivers-eoan.list
oibaf-ubuntu-graphics-drivers-eoan.list.save
qucs-ubuntu-qucs-disco.list
qucs-ubuntu-qucs-disco.list.save
stretch-backports.list
stretch-backports.list.save
ubuntu-x-swat-ubuntu-updates-eoan.list
ubuntu-x-swat-ubuntu-updates-eoan.list.save
webupd8team-ubuntu-brackets-eoan.list
webupd8team-ubuntu-brackets-eoan.list.save

I opened and checked all of them but none had linux-image-generic-lts-xenial in the name. I am suspecting that the ones with ubuntu in the name maybe also be culprits though. I also tried running apt purge linux-firmware but I got the same error as before.