Can't get new software on ubuntu software centre

Question

I recently purchased whatsapp for ubuntu off the software centre but when I try to install it this screen comes up.

http://imgur.com/iOdWUvZ <--- screenshot New software can not be installed because there is problem with the current software installed do you want to repair this problem now?

so I click the repair button and it ask to authenticate with my ubuntu password and key it in and enter.

saying package operation failed the installation or package removal failed

details are below...

installArchives() failed: (Reading database ... 
(Reading database ... 5%
(Reading database ... 10%
(Reading database ... 15%
(Reading database ... 20%
(Reading database ... 25%
(Reading database ... 30%
(Reading database ... 35%
(Reading database ... 40%
(Reading database ... 45%
(Reading database ... 50%
(Reading database ... 55%
(Reading database ... 60%
(Reading database ... 65%
(Reading database ... 70%
(Reading database ... 75%
(Reading database ... 80%
(Reading database ... 85%
(Reading database ... 90%
(Reading database ... 95%
(Reading database ... 100%
(Reading database ... 418136 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libstdc++6-arm64-cross_4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1cross0.11.1_all.deb ...
Unpacking libstdc++6-arm64-cross (4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1cross0.11.1) over (4.8.2-13ubuntu1cross0.11) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libstdc++6-arm64-cross_4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1cross0.11.1_all.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/share/gcc-4.8/python/libstdcxx/__init__.py', which is also in package libstdc++6:amd64 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1
dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/libstdc++6-arm64-cross_4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1cross0.11.1_all.deb
Error in function: 
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libstdc++-4.8-dev-arm64-cross:
 libstdc++-4.8-dev-arm64-cross depends on libstdc++6-arm64-cross (>= 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1cross0.11.1); however:
  Version of libstdc++6-arm64-cross on system is 4.8.2-13ubuntu1cross0.11.

dpkg: error processing package libstdc++-4.8-dev-arm64-cross (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libstdc++6-4.8-dbg-arm64-cross:
 libstdc++6-4.8-dbg-arm64-cross depends on libstdc++6-arm64-cross (>= 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1cross0.11.1); however:
  Version of libstdc++6-arm64-cross on system is 4.8.2-13ubuntu1cross0.11.

dpkg: error processing package libstdc++6-4.8-dbg-arm64-cross (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

I've no idea how to fix this problem as im fairly new to ubuntu any help would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

This seems to occur because packages installed have dependencies that may conflict with dependencies of packages that you are trying to install. I had this and on the forums I had searched suggest a stepwise attempt to correct problem, each more aggressive than the one before, moving on to the next step if it fails to resolve issues....

Step 1)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

This may fail

Step 2)

sudo apt-get -f install

This may fail too.

Step 3)

sudo apt-get remove --purge  libstdc++-4.8-dev-arm64-cross

this will try to remove offending package but will generally create another message e.g.

   ..
   The following packages have unmet dependencies.
   dkms : Depends: gcc but it is not going to be installed
   g++-multilib : Depends: g++ (>= 4:4.8.2-1ubuntu6) but it is not going to be installed

just repeat the above command adding things that have unmet dependencies i.e.

sudo apt-get remove libstdc++-4.8-dev-arm64-cross dkms  g++-multilib 

and keep going until the removal succeeds. You can then do a upgrade and update as step 1, and reinstall things you need.