package icedtea-netx 1.5-1ubuntu1 [modified: usr/bin/policyeditor] failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite shared '/usr/bin/policyeditor', which is different from other instances of package icedtea-netx:i386

[Marius B. Kotsbak]

I had an issue with /usr/bin/policyeditor and solved it using "dpkg - --force-all".

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: icedtea-netx 1.5-1ubuntu1 [modified: usr/bin/policyeditor]
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: Mon Apr 14 22:37:34 2014
DuplicateSignature: package:icedtea-netx:1.5-1ubuntu1 [modified: usr/bin/policyeditor]:trying to overwrite shared '/usr/bin/policyeditor', which is different from other instances of package icedtea-netx:i386
ErrorMessage: trying to overwrite shared '/usr/bin/policyeditor', which is different from other instances of package icedtea-netx:i386
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-05-02 (349 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
SourcePackage: icedtea-web
Title: package icedtea-netx 1.5-1ubuntu1 [modified: usr/bin/policyeditor] failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite shared '/usr/bin/policyeditor', which is different from other instances of package icedtea-netx:i386
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-01-30 (77 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Hristo Erinin (zorlem)]

Currently it is not possible to install icedtea-netx:i386 alongside icedtea-netx:amd64. There are no "Conflicts" dpkg flags set between the two packages, yet :i386 package fails to install because of:

"trying to overwrite shared '/usr/bin/policyeditor', which is different from other instances of package icedtea-netx:i386"

[David J. Lafond (djlafond)]

i'm still quite new to working in the terminal in linux. Downloaded the icedtea package to be able to use a secure web portal to lo set up remote desktop with my machine at work. i got the web portal to work & logged in successfully but have had the dpkg error ever since. i tried to remove the offending icedtea pacakge but that failed. i've run apt-get remove and apt-get install-f but come back to the same error. i guess i'll have to wait for an update fix though package installer fails as does software updater. In the ubunut software center it detects the error but then just goes into a repeating loop of detecting the error trying to repair it & having the package installer fail again. All i could do is close it out. It says the package system is broken, says to remove any third party packages & run agp-get install -f. i'm at a loss. Will watch for updates. Thank you. djl

[Gambil (gambilgumbil)]

hi,
a. Is there any workaround for this issue? If so please post it here as am very new to Ubuntu. I suppose the bug is still present and not fixed yet.
b. Since I am also affected by this issue, should I report this as a bug ?

Here is the error that I get :

> sudo apt-get install icedtea-netx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  icedtea-netx
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 474 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/19.6 kB of archives.
After this operation, 155 kB of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 256806 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../icedtea-netx_1.5-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking icedtea-netx:amd64 (1.5-1ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/icedtea-netx_1.5-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite shared '/usr/bin/policyeditor', which is different from other instances of package icedtea-netx:amd64
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/icedtea-netx_1.5-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

As discussed in the Debian bug ticket, the package icedtea-netx is incorrectly marked as multi-arch:same. Make sure to install only one arch of the package to resolve the problem until the fixed package is uploaded.