i can't install gnome-control-center ubuntu 22.04 LTS - gnome

`
Depends: libcheese-gtk25 (>= 3.18.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libcheese8 (>= 3.28.0) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.25.2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libwacom2 (>= 1.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: gnome-control-center-data (< 1:3.37) but 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.5 is to be installed
Recommends: gnome-online-accounts (>= 3.25.3) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: network-manager-gnome (>= 0.9.8) but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: gnome-control-center-faces but it is not going to be installed
Recommends: rygel but it is not going to be installed or
rygel-tracker but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
`
I tried to fix but it didn't work
sudo apt install libcheese-gtk25
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libcheese-gtk25 : Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0) but it is not installable
libcheese8 : Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0) but it is not installable
libclutter-gst-3.0-0 : Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0) but it is not installable
libclutter-gtk-1.0-0 : Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0) but it is not installable
libcogl20 : Depends: libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages

Related

populate_sdk fails when multilib enabled

I am trying to generate SDK using yocto.
Hardware: x64
generic meta-intel layer
Image: core-image-minimal.
I enabled multilib in the conf file to support 32 bit libraries.
require conf/multilib.conf
MULTILIBS = "multilib:lib32"
DEFAULTTUNE_virtclass-multilib-lib32 = "x86"
When I run the following command: bitbake -c populate_sdk core-image-minimal, I am getting the following error at the last stage.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
lib32-packagegroup-core-standalone-sdk-target : Depends: lib32-glibc-gconv-cp1252 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-glibc-gconv-ibm850 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-glibc-gconv-iso8859-1 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-glibc-gconv-iso8859-15 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-glibc-localedata-i18n but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libatomic-dev but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libatomic1 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libc6 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libc6-dbg but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libc6-dev but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libc6-thread-db but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libc6-utils but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libgcc-s-dev but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libgcc1 but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libsegfault but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libstdc++-dev but it is not installable
Depends: lib32-libstdc++6 but it is not installable
Recommends: lib32-libssp-dev but it is not installable
Recommends: lib32-libssp0 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
ERROR: core-image-minimal-1.0-r0 do_populate_sdk: Function failed: do_populate_sdk
How can I resolve this error. I see a similar post in yocto mailing list..
https://lists.yoctoproject.org/pipermail/yocto/2017-October/038338.html
Thanks for your time.. Appreciate your efforts.
A colleague of mine solved this by changing conf/local.conf like this:
# packaging
PACKAGE_CLASSES ?= "package_ipk"
#PACKAGE_CLASSES ?= "package_deb package_ipk"
it seems that package_deb is part of the problem.
Of course it leaves as many questions as it answers, but maybe enough to get you past your current block.

Linux: How do I headlessly install an old version of VLC?

I need to install an old version of VLC from the command line (can't use a browser to download anything). I know it sounds weird, but the specific version of VLC doesn't matter as long as it isn't the most up to date.
EDIT
Based on the suggestion below I tried downloading and installing the .deb file but when I ran "apt-get install -f" after installing it, VLC was automatically updated to the newest version.
I tried again and put a hold on VLC (sudo apt-mark hold vlc), but that caused "apt-get install" to fail:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... failed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
vlc : Depends: ttf-freefont
Depends: vlc-nox (= 1.1.9-1ubuntu1) but it is not installed
Depends: libavcodec52 (>= 4:0.6-1~) but it is not installable or
libavcodec-extra-52 (>= 4:0.6-1~) but it is not installable
Depends: libavutil50 (>= 4:0.6-1~) but it is not installable or
libavutil-extra-50 (>= 4:0.6-1~) but it is not installable
Depends: libgl1-mesa-glx but it is not installed or
libgl1
Depends: libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.7.0~beta1) but it is not installed
Depends: libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.5.3) but it is not installed
Depends: libsdl-image1.2 (>= 1.2.10) but it is not installed
Depends: libtar
Depends: libva-x11-1 but it is not installed
Depends: libva1 but it is not installed
Depends: libvlccore4 (>= 1.1.0) but it is not installable
Depends: libx11-xcb1 but it is not installed
Depends: libxcb-keysyms1 (>= 0.3.6) but it is not installed
Depends: libxcb-randr0 (>= 1.1) but it is not installed
Depends: libxcb-xv0 (>= 1.2) but it is not installed
Recommends: vlc-plugin-notify (= 1.1.9-1ubuntu1) but it is not installed
Recommends: vlc-plugin-pulse (= 1.1.9-1ubuntu1) but it is not installable
Recommends: xdg-utils but it is not installed
E: Error, pkgProblemResolver::Resolve generated breaks, this may be caused by held packages.
E: Unable to correct dependencies
You can find the VLC 1.1.9 deb here:
32 bit - http://launchpadlibrarian.net/69370596/vlc_1.1.9-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
64 bit - http://launchpadlibrarian.net/69370658/vlc_1.1.9-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb
You should consider locking the vlc package to prevent it from getting updated accidentally again.
How to prevent updating of a specific package?

Packages have unmet dependencies

So I understand that there are quite a few different posts about this topic. I have been to all of them and none of them are helping me with this problem. Could someone please help me out? Thank you in advance.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libreadline6-dev : Depends: libtinfo-dev but it is not going to be installed
libsqlite3-dev : Depends: libsqlite3-0 (= 3.8.6-1) but 3.8.7.4-1 is to be installed
libssl-dev : Depends: libssl1.0.0 (= 1.0.1f-1ubuntu9.8) but 1.0.1f-1ubuntu11.4 is to be installed
Recommends: libssl-doc but it is not going to be installed
libxml2-dev : Depends: libxml2 (= 2.9.1+dfsg1-4ubuntu1) but 2.9.2+dfsg1-3 is to be installed
libxslt1-dev : Depends: libxslt1.1 (= 1.1.28-2build1) but 1.1.28-2build2 is to be installed
libyaml-dev : Depends: libyaml-0-2 (= 0.1.6-1ubuntu0.1) but 0.1.6-3 is to be installed
sqlite3 : Depends: libsqlite3-0 (= 3.8.6-1) but 3.8.7.4-1 is to be installed
zlib1g-dev : Depends: zlib1g (= 1:1.2.8.dfsg-1ubuntu1) but 1:1.2.8.dfsg-2ubuntu1 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Getting error Ubuntu 14.04 Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages

I am trying to install build essential packages on Amazon EC2 instance having Ubuntu 14.04. It doesn't have some essential packages which comes in normal Ubuntu desktop edition.Every time I try to install any package with command sudo apt-get -f install build-essential, I am getting same dependency error. I was trying to install perl modules required for my application. I might have messed up with package manager by trying some commands such as clean. Why build essentials requires perl? Is my package repository corrupted. Can I start from fresh or any other solution? Thanks in advance.
Error
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
build-essential : Depends: libc6-dev but it is not going to be installed or
libc-dev
Depends: gcc (>= 4:4.4.3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: g++ (>= 4:4.4.3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: make but it is not going to be installed
Depends: dpkg-dev (>= 1.13.5) but it is not going to be installed
libapparmor-perl : Depends: perl-base (>= 5.18.2-2ubuntu1) but 5.14.2-21build1 is to be installed
Depends: perlapi-5.18.2
libdbd-mysql-perl : Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
libdbi-perl : Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
liblocale-gettext-perl : PreDepends: perl-base (>= 5.18.1-4) but 5.14.2-21build1 is to be installed
PreDepends: perlapi-5.18.1
liblwp-protocol-https-perl : Depends: libio-socket-ssl-perl (>= 1.54) but 1.31-1 is to be installed
Depends: libnet-http-perl but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libwww-perl (>= 6.05-2) but it is not going to be installed
libsub-name-perl : Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
libterm-readkey-perl : Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
libtext-charwidth-perl : Depends: perl-base (>= 5.18.1-4) but 5.14.2-21build1 is to be installed
Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
libtext-iconv-perl : Depends: perl-base (>= 5.18.1-4) but 5.14.2-21build1 is to be installed
Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
libtext-soundex-perl : Depends: perlapi-5.18.1
perl : Depends: perl-base (= 5.18.2-2ubuntu1) but 5.14.2-21build1 is to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
Execute
sudo apt-get update
before install, it should help.

To install ia32-libs on debian wheezy amd64

I'm using Debian 7 (wheezy) amd64.
uname -a
Linux tzwm-debian 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.51-1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
And I want to install ia32-libs in my Debian. But this happens when I try to install.
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
ia32-libs : Depends: ia32-libs-i386
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
And I google for it, then try to do it.
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
The problem is not being solved.
Then I try to install ia32-libs-i386.
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-i386:i386
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
ia32-libs-i386:i386 : Depends: freeglut3:i386 (>= 2.6.0-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: lesstif2:i386 (>= 1:0.95.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libacl1:i386 (>= 2.2.49-4) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libasyncns0:i386 (>= 0.3-1.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libattr1:i386 (>= 1:2.4.44-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libaudio2:i386 (>= 1.9.2-4) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libaudiofile1:i386 (>= 0.2.6-8) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libavahi-client3:i386 (>= 0.6.27-2+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libavahi-common3:i386 (>= 0.6.27-2+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libbsd0:i386 (>= 0.2.0-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libcap2:i386 (>= 1:2.19-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libcomerr2:i386 (>= 1.41.12-4stable1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libcups2:i386 (>= 1.4.4-7+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libcurl3:i386 (>= 7.21.0-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdbus-1-3:i386 (>= 1.2.24-4+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdirectfb-1.2-9:i386 (>= 1.2.10.0-4) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdrm-intel1:i386 (>= 2.4.21-1~squeeze3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdrm-radeon1:i386 (>= 2.4.21-1~squeeze3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libdrm2:i386 (>= 2.4.21-1~squeeze3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libedit2:i386 (>= 2.11-20080614-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libesd0:i386 (>= 0.2.41-8) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libexif12:i386 (>= 0.6.19-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libexpat1:i386 (>= 2.0.1-7) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libflac8:i386 (>= 1.2.1-2+b1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libfltk1.1:i386 (>= 1.1.10-2+b1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libfontconfig1:i386 (>= 2.8.0-2.1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libfreetype6:i386 (>= 2.4.2-2.1+squeeze3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgcrypt11:i386 (>= 1.4.5-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgdbm3:i386 (>= 1.8.3-9) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 (>= 7.7.1-5) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 (>= 7.7.1-5) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libglu1-mesa:i386 (>= 7.7.1-5) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgnutls26:i386 (>= 2.8.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgpg-error0:i386 (>= 1.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgphoto2-2:i386 (>= 2.4.6-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgphoto2-port0:i386 (>= 2.4.6-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libgssapi-krb5-2:i386 (>= 1.8.3+dfsg-4squeeze2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libice6:i386 (>= 2:1.0.6-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libidn11:i386 (>= 1.15-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libieee1284-3:i386 (>= 0.2.11-6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libjack-jackd2-0:i386 (>= 1.9.5~dfsg-14) but it is not going to be installed or
libjack0:i386 (>= 1:0.118+svn3796-7) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libjpeg62:i386 (>= 6b1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libjpeg8:i386 (>= 8b-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libk5crypto3:i386 (>= 1.8.3+dfsg-4squeeze2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libkeyutils1:i386 (>= 1.4-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libkrb5-3:i386 (>= 1.8.3+dfsg-4squeeze2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libkrb5support0:i386 (>= 1.8.3+dfsg-4squeeze2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: liblcms1:i386 (>= 1.18.dfsg-1.2+b3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libltdl7:i386 (>= 2.2.6b-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: liblzo2-2:i386 (>= 2.03-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libmpg123-0:i386 (>= 1.12.1-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libnspr4-0d:i386 (>= 4.8.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libnss3-1d:i386 (>= 3.12.8-1+squeeze4) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libogg0:i386 (>= 1.2.0~dfsg-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libopenal1:i386 (>= 1:1.12.854-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libpam0g:i386 (>= 1.1.1-6.1+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libpng12-0:i386 (>= 1.2.44-1+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libpopt0:i386 (>= 1.16-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libpulse0:i386 (>= 0.9.21-3+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsamplerate0:i386 (>= 0.1.7-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsane:i386 (>= 1.0.21-9) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsasl2-2:i386 (>= 2.1.23.dfsg1-7) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsdl1.2debian:i386 (>= 1.2.15) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libselinux1:i386 (>= 2.0.96-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsigc++-2.0-0c2a:i386 (>= 2.2.4.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsm6:i386 (>= 2:1.1.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsndfile1:i386 (>= 1.0.21-3+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsqlite3-0:i386 (>= 3.7.3-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libssh2-1:i386 (>= 1.2.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libssl1.0.0:i386 (>= 1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libstdc++5:i386 (>= 1:3.3.6-20) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsvga1:i386 (>= 1:1.4.3-29) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libsysfs2:i386 (>= 2.1.0+repack-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libtasn1-3:i386 (>= 2.7-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libtdb1:i386 (>= 1.2.1-2+b1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libtiff4:i386 (>= 3.9.4-5+squeeze3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libts-0.0-0:i386 (>= 1.0-7) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libusb-0.1-4:i386 (>= 2:0.1.12-16) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libuuid1:i386 (>= 2.17.2-9) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libvorbis0a:i386 (>= 1.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libvorbisenc2:i386 (>= 1.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libvorbisfile3:i386 (>= 1.3.1-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libwrap0:i386 (>= 7.6.q-19) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libx11-6:i386 (>= 2:1.3.3-4) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libx86-1:i386 (>= 1.1+ds1-6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxau6:i386 (>= 1:1.0.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxaw7:i386 (>= 2:1.0.7-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxcb-render-util0:i386 (>= 0.3.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxcb-render0:i386 (>= 1.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxcb1:i386 (>= 1.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxcomposite1:i386 (>= 1:0.4.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxcursor1:i386 (>= 1:1.1.10-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxdamage1:i386 (>= 1:1.1.3-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxdmcp6:i386 (>= 1:1.0.3-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxext6:i386 (>= 2:1.1.2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxfixes3:i386 (>= 1:4.0.5-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxft2:i386 (>= 2.1.14-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxi6:i386 (>= 2:1.3-6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxinerama1:i386 (>= 2:1.1-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxml2:i386 (>= 2.7.8.dfsg-2+squeeze1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxmu6:i386 (>= 2:1.0.5-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxmuu1:i386 (>= 2:1.0.5-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxp6:i386 (>= 1:1.0.0.xsf1-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxpm4:i386 (>= 1:3.5.8-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxrandr2:i386 (>= 2:1.3.0-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxrender1:i386 (>= 1:0.9.6-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxslt1.1:i386 (>= 1.1.26-6) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxss1:i386 (>= 1:1.2.0-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxt6:i386 (>= 1:1.0.7-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxtst6:i386 (>= 2:1.1.0-3) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxv1:i386 (>= 2:1.0.5-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libxxf86vm1:i386 (>= 1:1.1.0-2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: odbcinst1debian2:i386 (>= 2.2.14p2-1) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libodbc1:i386 but it is not going to be installed
Depends: xaw3dg:i386 (>= 1.5+E-18) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
I also try to do this:
sudo apt-get install -f
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
sudo apt-get install libc6-i386
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libc6-i386 : Depends: libc6 (= 2.13-38) but 2.17-93 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
Should I must install libc6(=2.17-93) manually?
Is there a solution?
It's probably late, but here is a way to fix this. Try this:
dpkg --add-architecture i386
apt-get update
apt-get install libc6:i386
The ia32-libs maybe have been removed in the later version. And I have no way to solve this problem.
Finally, I find I should install libc6-i386 instead of ia32-libs.
When I try to install libc6-i386, the following information is showed for me:
libc6-i386 : Depends: libc6 (= 2.13-38) but 2.17-93 is to be installed
I previously used the stable version. So I change to testing version, and install libc6-i386 again successful.
Now I solved this problem and can run 32 bit application, although I don't know why I need a package in testing version to install package(libc6-i386) in stable version.
You can also use aptitude to install it:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo aptitude install ia32-libs
It will install all needed dependencies for ia32-libs.
Here's what fixed it for me. In my repositories, I had a CD-ROM source which was the original install disk, so when I'd run apt-get update, I'd get an error about apt-get not being able to add cd-rom repositories and that old indexes would be used (I don't have the exact error... my terminal just pushed it out of the buffer).
So I removed the cd-rom source from the repositories list (in synaptic), ran apt-get update again, and then I was able to install the ia32-libs.
A possibility that has been suggested is to install libc6:i386.
Unfortunately installation of libc6:386 can result in the removal of core components and make your system unstable. You'lll get a message saying "You are about to do something potentially harmful. To continue type in the phrase 'Yes, do as I say!'"
Rather install libc6-i386.
In my case there was an additional problem with the pinning preferences in /etc/apt/preferences .
When I put them just to support stable
Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 1001
apt finally found the way to do the proper dist-upgrade. I'm not sure why but when I installed my system (early 2012) the line specifying the pin release read:
Pin: release n=stable
so there was a "n" instead of an "a". Changing that worked like charm.

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