how to find the ppa of a package found in launchpad?

Question

I am trying to install a program (valgrind) which needs libc6-dbg. On the other hand, I cannot install libc6-dbg because:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
   libc6-dbg: Depends: libc6 (= 2.11.1-0ubuntu7) but 2.11.1-0ubuntu7.2 is to be installed
E: Broken packages

which means I have a newer version of libc6 installed. However:

sudo apt-get install libc6-dbg=2.11.1-0ubuntu7.2

doesn't find anything. I am guessing I need to add the PPA containing that package, which is where I ran out of luck.

I found the package I need here (my ubuntu is Lucid): https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/i386/libc6-dbg/2.11.1-0ubuntu7.2, however, I can't seem to figure out what I should do to get apt-get to see and install this package.

Help?

Answer 1

-dbg packages provide debug symbols for programs and libraries provided by the packages that are named like them but without -dbg. (Sometimes they provide debug symbols for a whole group packages, typically whose names start like them without -dbg and then contain more text.)

In this case, you have libc6 installed (that's a core package without which no Ubuntu system can run), and you want to install libc6-dbg. This must correspond exactly to the installed version of libc6. Getting a separate version of libc6-dbg from a PPA that didn't correspond to the installed version of libc6 would be very bad--it would not be usable.

As this page indicates, on a Lucid system both libc6 and (if it is installed) libc6-dbg should be at version 2.11.1-0ubuntu7.10. So it looks like you have an old version of libc6 installed (which is possibly vulnerable to well-known security bugs!), for which libc6-dbg may no longer be available.

Not only do you have an old version of libc6, but your information about what the latest versions of libc6 and libc6-dbg is out of date. Try this to correct it:

sudo apt-get update

If you're installing packages on the command-line, you should always run that first (unless you've run it just recently).

Then run this to upgrade your system's packages (including libc6):

sudo apt-get upgrade

Then try again:

sudo apt-get install libc6-dbg

If that still doesn't work, check your Software Sources (by going to the Update Manager and clicking the Settings... button at the lower-left corner). Click on the Updates Tab. Make sure that Important security updates (lucid-security) and Recommended updates (lucid-updates) are enabled (checked).

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Then after enabling those software sources, run these commands again:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

And then try again:

sudo apt-get install libc6-dbg

Answer 2

In general (answering your title question): for searching/adding ppa's you could use Y PPA Manager.

After adding you update your sources and install the package from source you want...

Answer 3

You should update your system, for example with

 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get upgrade

If that doesn't help make sure you have the security updates enabled.

The current version of libc6 in Lucid is 2.11.1-0ubuntu7.10, the corresponding libc6-dbg is available from the official software sources.

Answer 4

It looks like 'libc6-dbg' is the package name, and '=2.11.1-0ubuntu7.2' is the version. Try using

sudo apt-get install libc6-dbg

Or use the synaptic package manager.

These two methods will install a newer version of libc6-dbg. If you have to have the older one, you can download the .deb file for it on the right side of the launchpad page you linked.

Answer 5

Maybe an update of libc6 and libc6-dbg would help? There are newer versions (with security updates) of both packages available:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/i386/libc6/2.11.1-0ubuntu7.10

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/i386/libc6-dbg/2.11.1-0ubuntu7.10

I think 2.11.1-0ubuntu7 is not in the repositories anymore.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

should solve the problem.