Bdtyktl

tio@tio:~$ sudo apt install vlc

[sudo] password for tio: 

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:

 vlc : Depends: vlc-bin (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

       Depends: vlc-plugin-base (= 3.0.1-3build1) but 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 is to be installed

       Depends: vlc-plugin-video-output (= 3.0.1-3build1) but 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 is to be installed

       Recommends: vlc-l10n (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

       Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

       Recommends: vlc-plugin-samba (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

       Recommends: vlc-plugin-skins2 (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

       Recommends: vlc-plugin-video-splitter (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

       Recommends: vlc-plugin-visualization (= 3.0.1-3build1) but it is not going to be installed

E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

tio@tio:~$ 

I have Ubuntu 18.04 with main and universe repos active.

tio@tio:~$ apt-cache policy vlc vlc-bin vlc-plugin-base vlc-plugin-video-output

vlc:

  Installed: (none)

  Candidate: 3.0.1-3build1

  Version table:

     3.0.1-3build1 500

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages

vlc-bin:

  Installed: (none)

  Candidate: 3.0.1-3build1

  Version table:

     3.0.1-3build1 500

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages

vlc-plugin-base:

  Installed: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1

  Candidate: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1

  Version table:

 *** 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 100

        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

     3.0.1-3build1 500

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages

vlc-plugin-video-output:

  Installed: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1

  Candidate: 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1

  Version table:

 *** 3.0.2-0ubuntu0.1 100

        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

     3.0.1-3build1 500

        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages

tio@tio:~$ 

With the help of the answers from here I fixed it this way:

1. sudo apt remove vlc*


2. sudo apt autoclean


3. sudo apt autoremove


4. sudo apt install vlc*

Thank you very much people!

I had the same issues with installing VLC in Ubuntu on Cosmic i386. I could not resolve the "unmet dependencies" due to "broken packages being held";

Running Terminal: sudo synaptic (It did not reveal any broken packages).

Double check your Ubuntu version that main and universe repos are active.

Terminal Input: sudo apt install vlc revealed the following:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:

vlc : Depends: vlc-bin (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Depends: vlc-plugin-base (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Depends: vlc-plugin-video-output (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Recommends:vlc-l10n (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify (= 3.0.4-2build)

      Recommends: vlc-plugin-samba (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Recommends: vlc-plugin-skins2 (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Recommends: vlc-plugin-video-splitter (= 3.0.4-2build1)

      Recommends: vlc-plugin-visualization (= 3.0.4-2build1)



E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

To solve this, I ran:

sudo apt clean

sudo apt autoclean

sudo apt autoremove

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

I ran a downgrade for all of the above dependencies, for example

sudo apt install vlc-plugin-base=3.0.4-2build1 (or your specific build number)

Do this for each dependency and then run;

sudo apt install vlc* [**The asterisk is the key!**]

Any remaining missing dependencies will be revealed and you can then downgrade additional residual dependencies and install VLC with all its recommended packages.

Hope this helps someone it took me a week to work this one out.

These commands should do the work.

sudo apt clean

sudo apt autoclean

sudo apt autoremove

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt install vlc*