Software Manager displays false "unmet dependencies" errors

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
45/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
python
Domain
desktop

Research direction

Reproduce the issue in Linux Mint 22.2 with mintinstall 8.3.8, i386 enabled, and the listed affected packages. Compare the Software Manager dependency display with apt-get check, dpkg --audit, and simulated upgrades; done means healthy packages no longer show false unmet-dependency errors.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Software Manager displays false "unmet dependencies" errors when clicking on certain packages, even though the system is healthy.

Affected packages:

  • zlib1g
  • gpgv
  • grub-efi-amd64-signed
  • base-files

Environment:

  • Linux Mint 22.2 (Zara)
  • mintinstall 8.3.8
  • i386 architecture enabled (for Brother printer drivers)
  • zlib1g installed for both amd64 and i386

Verification that system is healthy:

  • sudo apt-get check: passes
  • dpkg --audit: no output
  • sudo apt install -f: nothing to fix
  • apt-get -s dist-upgrade: 0 changes needed
  • All affected packages install/reinstall successfully

The error appears to be a display/parsing issue in Software Manager's dependency resolver, possibly related to:

  1. Multiarch packages (same package for amd64 and i386)
  2. Linux Mint's base-files version pinning
  3. OR-dependencies in shim-signed

Workaround: Use Synaptic or apt command line instead.

Dominant language
Python
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Forks
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