package libc6-dev-i386 (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite '/usr/include/sys/timerfd.h', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6, ncurse

[pankaj]

I was trying to install ncurse library from synpatic when this error occured.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: libc6-dev-i386 (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Apr 25 13:43:53 2014
DuplicateSignature: package:libc6-dev-i386:(not installed):trying to overwrite '/usr/include/sys/timerfd.h', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6
ErrorMessage: trying to overwrite '/usr/include/sys/timerfd.h', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-25 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
SourcePackage: eglibc
Title: package libc6-dev-i386 (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite '/usr/include/sys/timerfd.h', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Pragnesh Sampat (pragnesh-sampat)]

I had a similar thing happen when installing lib64ncurses5-dev, I think (I thought I was installing 64 bit libraries). I have gotten back to a usable state now, except for this:

$ sudo apt-get install -f
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 18 not upgraded.
120 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/1,149 kB of archives.
After this operation, 6,337 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 271375 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libc6-dev-i386 (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/include/sys/timerfd.h', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[sunapi386 (sunapi386)]

Try removing libc6-dev-amd64.

sunapi386@XPS1645SSD ~ [100]> sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  ax25-node gyp javascript-common libax25 libc-ares-dev libc-ares2 libjs-node-uuid libv8-3.14-dev
  libv8-3.14.5 openbsd-inetd
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 41 not upgraded.
5 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/1,149 kB of archives.
After this operation, 6,337 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 234006 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libc6-dev-i386 (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/include/sys/timerfd.h', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

sunapi386@XPS1645SSD ~ [1]> sudo dpkg -r libc6-dev-amd64
(Reading database ... 234004 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing libc6-dev-amd64 (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
sunapi386@XPS1645SSD ~> sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  ax25-node gyp javascript-common libax25 libc-ares-dev libc-ares2 libc6-amd64:i386 libc6-dev:i386
  libjs-node-uuid libv8-3.14-dev libv8-3.14.5 linux-libc-dev:i386 openbsd-inetd
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 41 not upgraded.
5 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/1,149 kB of archives.
After this operation, 6,337 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 233871 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libc6-dev-i386 (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
Setting up libc6-dev-i386 (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
Setting up libc6-dev-x32 (2.19-0ubuntu6) ...
Setting up gcc-4.8-multilib (4.8.2-19ubuntu1) ...
Setting up gcc-multilib (4:4.8.2-1ubuntu6) ...
Setting up g++-4.8-multilib (4.8.2-19ubuntu1) ...
Setting up g++-multilib (4:4.8.2-1ubuntu6) ...

sunapi386@XPS1645SSD ~> sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  ax25-node gyp javascript-common libax25 libc-ares-dev libc-ares2 li...

[MasterBoy (debelan88)]

May be same problem occure to me but with overwriting /gnu/

rude@Marla:/etc/apt/apt.conf.d$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libc6-dev-i386
The following NEW packages will be installed
  libc6-dev-i386
0 to upgrade, 1 to newly install, 0 to remove and 62 not to upgrade.
5 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/1,148 kB of archives.
After this operation, 6,335 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 256685 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6.3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libc6-dev-i386 (2.19-0ubuntu6.3) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6.3_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/include/gnu', which is also in package libc6-dev-amd64 2.19-0ubuntu6.3
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libc6-dev-i386_2.19-0ubuntu6.3_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Ben Johnson (a03-6eo-chg)]

This issue may be the same as or related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/eglibc/+bug/1365375 .

[Hardiksingh Rathore (hardiksingh-rathore)]

sudo aptitude install libc6-dev:i386