PkgProblemResolver

• Relevant to PCLinuxOS 2011.6 KDE. However the basics will be relevant to other PCLinuxOS editions too.

E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

Introduction

This is an error produced when trying to update your PCLinuxOS distribution.

Situations that generate this error

• While updating via Synaptic
• While updating via command line using 'apt-get'

Cause of the error

The cause is most likely some conflicting names of the packages between older packages on your computer and those on the update server resulting in unresolved dependency or something. Not sure about this here.

Appearance on screen

Presently a screenshot of Synaptic throwing this error is not available. Here is a sample command line output including the error.

After issuing the following command

• apt-get dist-upgrade

you get this output

Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Calculating Upgrade... Failed
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  plymouth-theme-coffee: Obsoletes: plymouth-theme-Coffee
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.

This particular example was due to the new package being named in all lower case compared to the lone uppercase for Coffee in the earlier version.

Solution

• Open Synaptic.
• Mark the offending package for complete removal and Apply.

Then your update should proceed smoothly. You can always install the updated version later on.