I have been looking at multiple pages for a few hours now but still no luck in solving this. I installed OpenOffice then tried to install LibreOffice-Draw through the app-center but encountered a problem (the file didn't install and kept cutting out). I went into the terminal and was met with these errors after trying to use apt-get with anything:
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies.
libreoffice-core : Depends: libreoffice-common (> 1:5.1.6~rc2) but it is not going to be installed
libreoffice-style-galaxy : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but it is not going to be installed
libreoffice-style-human : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
Running that and trying to install libreoffice-common results in:
Preparing to unpack .../libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb ...
Unpacking libreoffice-common (1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.3-9783
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/program/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.5-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Unknown media type in type 'all/all'
Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5.1+elementary2~ubuntu0.4.1) ...
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160824-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-icon-theme (3.12.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
```
Trying to purge OpenOffice -
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-debian-menus' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fr-fr' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de-ch' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-ca' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-us' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-updatedicts' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-kde' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-common' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-an' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ca' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eo' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-es' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eu' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fo' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-gl' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nb' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nn' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nr' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ns' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ss' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-st' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tl' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tn' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-uz' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ve' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-xh' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-zu' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hunspell' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-fi' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ga' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-hr' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-id' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-calc' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-writer' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-lt' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-pl' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ru' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-ure' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-it' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-pl' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-bundled' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-base' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-en-us' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-core' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-dev-doc' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-dmaths' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-de-at' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-de-ch' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-de-de' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-unbundled' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-en-au' for glob 'openoffice.org-*'
Package 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-it' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'dictionaries-common' instead of 'openoffice.org-updatedicts'
Package 'openoffice.org-hunspell' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-core' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hunspell-an' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-an'
Note, selecting 'hunspell-ca' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ca'
Package 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-en-us' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hunspell-eu' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eu'
Note, selecting 'hunspell-gl-es' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-gl'
Note, selecting 'hunspell-uz' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-uz'
Package 'openoffice.org-writer' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hyphen-en-us' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-us'
Note, selecting 'hyphen-en-us' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en'
Package 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-hr' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hyphen-pl' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-pl'
Note, selecting 'hyphen-ru' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ru'
Package 'openoffice.org-base' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-common' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-dev-doc' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'myspell-eo' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eo'
Note, selecting 'myspell-es' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-es'
Note, selecting 'myspell-fo' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fo'
Note, selecting 'myspell-nb' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nb'
Note, selecting 'myspell-nn' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nn'
Note, selecting 'myspell-nr' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nr'
Note, selecting 'myspell-ns' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ns'
Note, selecting 'myspell-ss' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ss'
Note, selecting 'myspell-st' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-st'
Note, selecting 'myspell-tn' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tn'
Note, selecting 'myspell-ve' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ve'
Note, selecting 'myspell-xh' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-xh'
Note, selecting 'myspell-zu' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-zu'
Note, selecting 'mythes-de' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de'
Note, selecting 'mythes-de-ch' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de-ch'
Note, selecting 'mythes-en-au' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-en-au'
Note, selecting 'mythes-pl' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-pl'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-ca'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-fi'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ga'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-id'
Package 'openoffice.org-calc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-kde' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'myspell-fr-gut' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fr-fr'
Note, selecting 'myspell-tl' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tl'
Package 'openoffice.org-dmaths' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-bundled' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-ure' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-debian-menus' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-lt' is not installed, so not removed
Trying to purge LibreOffice results in a similar messsage telling me that nothing Libreoffice related is installed, however sudo apt list --installed has (along with openoffice):
libreoffice-core/xenial-updates,xenial-security,now 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libreoffice-draw/xenial-updates,xenial-security,now 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1 amd64 [installed]
libreoffice-style-galaxy/xenial-updates,xenial-updates,xenial-security,xenial-security,now 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1 all [installed,auto-removable]
libreoffice-style-human/xenial-updates,xenial-updates,xenial-security,xenial-security,now 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1 all [installed,auto-removable]
The dpkg manager is completely bricked due to unmet dependencies, I can't purge anything as it says it can't find it and I can't install anything because of the conflict. I thought about removing the "soffice" directory that seems to be causing this mess but I don't know how wise that is.
I'm fairly new to Linux and I hope I've been comprehensive enough in showing the error reports.
Ok, I got it. For some reason sudo apt-get remove or purge wasn't working, instead I used - dpkg -r --force-depends $pkg and went through one by one removing the packages specified in the errors.
Any explanation as to why this worked and sudo apt-get remove or purge would be welcome so I can learn.