Can't install or uninstall any application

[Mark Lwembe]

I have this notification that says:
**
An error occured, please run Package Manager from the right click menu or apt-get from the terminal
to see what is wrong.
The error message was:'Error: BrokenCount > 0'. This usually means that your installed packages have unmet dependancies
**

I ran the 'sudo apt-get --qq upgrade' on the terminal and it returned:
**
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
**

I copy-pasted the recommendation 'apt --fix-broken install' into the terminal and got this back:
**
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root?
**

I do have root privileges on my machine but beyond this point what am I meant to do as I really don't wanna mess with anything else without proper guidance.

[Lakhan Tanaji Kadam (lkadam)]

Hi Mark,

It seems that you have problem installing and uninstalling due to 3rd party.

Do one thing, run the following commands:

1. ps afx|grep dpkg [To check if this process is running].
2. If there is any process, then kill with sudo killall dpkg
3. Remove the file using sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend

After this :

1. Go to system settings.
2. Go to Software& Updates.
3. Click on Other Software.
4. Remove all 3rd party repositories.
5. Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -f && sudo apt-get update

Then check if you are able to install or uninstall anything.

[Mark Lwembe (markrazorx)]

Are they all 3rd party repositories?

[Mark Lwembe (markrazorx)]

I decided to uncheck all the boxes and after running the final two commands everything seemed to run pretty normally except for this error:

**
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite shared '/etc/xdg/Trolltech.conf', which is different from other instances of package libqtcore4:amd64
dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
**

[Lakhan Tanaji Kadam (lkadam)]

Hi Mark,
Try this

sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.7+dfsg-7ubuntu1_amd64.deb

[Mark Lwembe (markrazorx)]

Hi Lakhan,

The error message has disappeared from my taskbar. Also I'm happy to report that I can install and uninstall to my heart's content.

Thanks for your help.