Libqt5core5a dependency conflict in 16.04

I’m getting the same libqt5core5a dependency problem trying to install both OnionShare (version 0.9.1-1 from deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/micahflee/ppa/ubuntu xenial main) and Calibre, in Ubuntu-MATE 16.04:

--> sudo aptitude install onionshare
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libqt5designer5{ab} onionshare python3-pyqt5{ab} python3-sip{a} 
0 packages upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 4,961 kB of archives. After unpacking 20.5 MB will be used.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 python3-pyqt5 : Depends: qtbase-abi-5-5-1 which is a virtual package, provided by:   
              - libqt5core5a, but 5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 is installed. 
libqt5designer5 : Depends: qtbase-abi-5-5-1 which is a virtual package, provided by:   
              - libqt5core5a, but 5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 is installed. 
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

     Keep the following packages at their current version:
1)     libqt5designer5 [Not Installed]                    
2)     onionshare [Not Installed]                         
3)     python3-pyqt5 [Not Installed]                      

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] 
No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used.

(I get the same message as above when I try to install Calibre.)

--> apt-cache policy libqt5core5a  
libqt5core5a:
  Installed: 5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2
  Candidate: 5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2
  Version table:
*** 5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 100
       100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
    5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 500
       500 http://mirror.cc.columbia.edu/pub/linux/ubuntu/archive xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages
    5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7 500
       500 http://mirror.cc.columbia.edu/pub/linux/ubuntu/archive xenial/main amd64 Packages

Also:

--> sudo aptitude -f install libqt5core5a
libqt5core5a is already installed at the requested version(5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2)

Two other (perhaps relevant) libraries ( libqt5gui5 and libqt5opengl5 ) are installed in addition to libqt5core5a. All three of them are at version 5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2.

But the following (also perhaps relevant) libraries are not installed, and all of these appear in Synaptic at version 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu6 :

libqt5gui5-gles
libqt5opengl5-gles
libqt5opengl5-gles-dev
libqt5opengl5-dev
libqt5network5

Naturally, I’m reluctant to do anything with libqt5core5a until I know what I’m doing, since, as the name core suggests, this library affects a ton of other packages.

Should I try to find the 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 version, install it & then remove the 5.6.1?

(Not sure where I’d find it, though, since version 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu6 is not in Synaptic, and I already have (in /etc/apt/sources.list) both of the “500” repos that are listed under the

apt-cache policy libqt5core5a  

command above (or at least I think I do):

deb http://mirror.cc.columbia.edu/pub/linux/ubuntu/archive/ xenial-updates restricted main

and

deb http://mirror.cc.columbia.edu/pub/linux/ubuntu/archive/ xenial restricted main

(Onionshare, btw, installed with no problems in MATE-14.04. The developr said it should work with any version of Qt5.)

Basically, I’m asking: How should this conflict be resolved?

Hi @watchpocket,

are you using Gdebi to install the packages?, if you download a .deb package and open it with Gdebi it should resolve the dependency Problems for you!.

You can also search for missing packages here:

https://pkgs.org/

Try changing your Software sources download Location as well, see the update guide:

I downloaded libqt5core5a version 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 from https://pkgs.org/ and opened it with Gdebi, but Gdebi just gave me a big red error message, with no actual proposed solution or steps to take.

I apparently have to delete version 5.6.1 before I can install 5.5.1, but deleting 5.6.1 would remove a very, very long list of important programs.

So, I still don’t have a clear idea of how to actually make the transition from 5.6.1 to 5.5.1.

If I used ppa-purge and were able to locate the PPA from which 5.6.1 came from, if I then just deleted that PPA, would my system automatically downgrade to 5.5.1? Even though I don’t see 5.5.1 in Synaptic?

Yeah… I don’t know what you did, but:

$ apt-cache policy libqt5core5a
libqt5core5a:
  Installed: 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1
  Candidate: 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1
  Version table:
 *** 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 500
        500 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7 500
        500 http://fr.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

That’s on 16.04.

According the the ppa-purge manpage, if I manage to purge the right offending PPA, libqt5core5a will automatically return to v. 5.5.1. I just have to find the PPA that brought in 5.6.1.

I did run the apt-cache policy command in my OP, thanks for responding nonetheless.

Yes, what I was saying though is that according to the result of the command, you don’t have the standard version for that package.

Anyway, when going to install with aptitude, did you try answering “n” to that “Accept this solution” prompt and see the others solutions aptitude could come up with?

Iv’e been advised elsewhere to use ppa-purge, but I don’t think ppa-purge will help me, since I’m 99% sure the offending PPA is no longer installed, and I don’t know what PPA caused the problem, so I don’t know what PPA to re-install to run ppa-purge on.

When I asked (on ubuntu forums): “What’s the worst that could happen by forcing the previous version in Synaptic? Or by downgrading using aptitude?” I was told:

Depends. It may be nothing, it may leave your software packaging system in a bad state. It depends on the package and where it is in the dependency tree. That’s why I recommend ppa-purge.

So, the following may be a solution, from within aptitude, following up on your suggestion above.
Can anyone comment as to whether doing this looks viable, or looks like it will cause problems:

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] no
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

       Remove the following packages:                                                                     
1)       gwenview                                                                                         
2)       kinit                                                                                            
3)       kio                                                                                              
4)       kstars                                                                                           
5)       kwayland-integration                                                                             
6)       libkf5baloo5                                                                                     
7)       libkf5balooengine5                                                                               
8)       libkf5bookmarks5                                                                                 
9)       libkf5dbusaddons-bin                                                                             
10)      libkf5iconthemes-bin                                                                             
11)      libkf5idletime5                                                                                  
12)      libkf5kdelibs4support5                                                                           
13)      libkf5kdelibs4support5-bin                                                                       
14)      libkf5kiofilewidgets5                                                                            
15)      libkf5newstuff5                                                                                  
16)      libkf5plotting5                                                                                  
17)      libkf5solid5                                                                                     
18)      libkf5waylandclient5                                                                             
19)      libqgsttools-p1                                                                                  
20)      libqt5multimedia5-plugins                                                                        
21)      libqt5multimediawidgets5                                                                         
22)      libqt5waylandclient5                                                                             
23)      qtwayland5                                                                                       

       Downgrade the following packages:                                                                  
24)      libkf5activities5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
25)      libkf5archive5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]              
26)      libkf5attica5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]               
27)      libkf5auth-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]             
28)      libkf5auth5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]                 
29)      libkf5codecs-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
30)      libkf5codecs5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]               
31)      libkf5completion-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
32)      libkf5completion5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
33)      libkf5config-bin [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
34)      libkf5config-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
35)      libkf5configcore5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
36)      libkf5configgui5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
37)      libkf5configwidgets-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]    
38)      libkf5configwidgets5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]        
39)      libkf5coreaddons-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
40)      libkf5coreaddons5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
41)      libkf5crash5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]                
42)      libkf5dbusaddons-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
43)      libkf5dbusaddons5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
44)      libkf5filemetadata-bin [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]      
45)      libkf5filemetadata-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]     
46)      libkf5filemetadata3 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]         
47)      libkf5globalaccel-bin [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
48)      libkf5globalaccel-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]      
49)      libkf5globalaccel5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]          
50)      libkf5globalaccelprivate5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]   
51)      libkf5gpgmepp5 [16.04.3-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 15.12.3-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
52)      libkf5guiaddons5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
53)      libkf5i18n-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]             
54)      libkf5i18n5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]                 
55)      libkf5iconthemes-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
56)      libkf5iconthemes5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
57)      libkf5itemmodels5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
58)      libkf5itemviews-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]        
59)      libkf5itemviews5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
60)      libkf5jobwidgets-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
61)      libkf5jobwidgets5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
62)      libkf5kiocore5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]              
63)      libkf5kiontlm5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]              
64)      libkf5kiowidgets5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
65)      libkf5notifications-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]    
66)      libkf5notifications5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]        
67)      libkf5parts-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
68)      libkf5parts-plugins [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]         
69)      libkf5parts5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]                
70)      libkf5service-bin [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
71)      libkf5service-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]          
72)      libkf5service5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]              
73)      libkf5sonnet5-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]          
74)      libkf5sonnetcore5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
75)      libkf5sonnetui5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]             
76)      libkf5style5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]                
77)      libkf5textwidgets-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]      
78)      libkf5textwidgets5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]          
79)      libkf5wallet-bin [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0a-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
80)      libkf5wallet-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0a-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]          
81)      libkf5wallet5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0a-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]              
82)      libkf5widgetsaddons-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]    
83)      libkf5widgetsaddons5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]        
84)      libkf5windowsystem-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]     
85)      libkf5windowsystem5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]         
86)      libkf5xmlgui-bin [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]            
87)      libkf5xmlgui-data [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]           
88)      libkf5xmlgui5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]               
89)      libkwalletbackend5-5 [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0a-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]       
90)      libqt5core5a [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]       
91)      libqt5dbus5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]        
92)      libqt5gui5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]         
93)      libqt5libqgtk2 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]     
94)      libqt5multimedia5 [5.6.1-2~xenial+build1 (now) -> 5.5.1-4ubuntu2 (xenial)]                       
95)      libqt5network5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]     
96)      libqt5opengl5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]      
97)      libqt5printsupport5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]
98)      libqt5qml5 [5.6.1-4~xenial+build1 (now) -> 5.5.1-2ubuntu6 (xenial)]                              
99)      libqt5quick5 [5.6.1-4~xenial+build1 (now) -> 5.5.1-2ubuntu6 (xenial)]                            
100)     libqt5script5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-2build1 (xenial)]                  
101)     libqt5sql5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]         
102)     libqt5sql5-sqlite [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]  
103)     libqt5svg5 [5.6.1-2~xenial+build1 (now) -> 5.5.1-2build1 (xenial)]                               
104)     libqt5test5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]        
105)     libqt5webkit5 [5.6.1+dfsg-3~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-2ubuntu1 (xenial)]                 
106)     libqt5widgets5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]     
107)     libqt5x11extras5 [5.6.1-2~xenial+build1 (now) -> 5.5.1-3build1 (xenial)]                         
108)     libqt5xml5 [5.6.1+dfsg-2~xenial+build2 (now) -> 5.5.1+dfsg-16ubuntu7.1 (xenial-updates)]         
109)     sonnet-plugins [5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1 (now) -> 5.18.0-0ubuntu1 (xenial)]              

       Leave the following dependencies unresolved:                                                       
110)     libkf5dbusaddons5 recommends libkf5dbusaddons-bin (= 5.18.0-0ubuntu1)                            
111)     libkf5iconthemes5 recommends libkf5iconthemes-bin (= 5.18.0-0ubuntu1)                            
112)     libkf5windowsystem5 recommends kwayland-integration                                              
113)     libkf5windowsystem5 recommends qtwayland5                                                        
114)     wireshark-qt recommends libqt5multimedia5-plugins                                                
115)     libkf5configcore5 recommends libkf5config-bin (= 5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1)               
116)     libkf5service5 recommends libkf5service-bin (= 5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1)                 
117)     libkf5idletime5 recommends kwayland-integration                                                  
118)     libkf5sonnetui5 recommends sonnet-plugins (= 5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1)                   
119)     libkf5iconthemes5 recommends libkf5iconthemes-bin (= 5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1)           
120)     libkf5dbusaddons5 recommends libkf5dbusaddons-bin (= 5.24.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu16.04~ppa1)

The worry here of course would be: What about the ten unresolved dependency libraries (and the wireshark-qt dependency)?

Would installing the “recommends” library or program listed beside each unresolved dependency prevent things from going haywire?

Actually, most of the “recommends” programs in the “unresolved dependencies” section are the same ones that would be removed by taking this action.

I’m not sure yet that I want to go ahead with this action until I have a clearer sense that it’s my best choice (though it may be my only viable choice, given that it seems ppa-purge won’t help) .

I do want to be able to roll back all the 5.6.1 qt libraries to 5.5.1 so I can install OnionShare and Calibre, and because I believe 5.5.1 is the system version that’s appropriate for Mate 16.04 .

Would anyone have any thoughts on this? Frankly I find it pretty complicated stuff, getting these dependency issues sorted out. Any tips appreciated.

SOLVED. I simply replied “yes” to the (long) aptitude selection that I quoted above.

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