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I had several installations of python on my ubuntu 18.04 system and tried to uninstall all necessary ones and just properly reinstall python3.6

So i deleted all folders that were listed under whereis python, probably that was a bad idea.

Now if I run sudo apt-get install python3.6 it returns

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
python3.6 is already the newest version (3.6.5-3).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
4 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Setting up python3.6-minimal (3.6.5-3) ...
Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>
Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]
Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings'

Current thread 0x00007f814f83c740 (most recent call first):
Aborted
dpkg: error processing package python3.6-minimal (--configure):
 installed python3.6-minimal package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 134
Setting up python-minimal (2.7.15~rc1-1) ...
/var/lib/dpkg/info/python-minimal.postinst: 4: /var/lib/dpkg/info/python-minimal.postinst: python2.7: not found
dpkg: error processing package python-minimal (--configure):
 installed python-minimal package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python3.6:
 python3.6 depends on python3.6-minimal (= 3.6.5-3); however:
  Package python3.6-minimal is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python3.6 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python3.6-dev:
 python3.6-dev depends on python3.6 (= 3.6.5-3); however:
  Package python3.6 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package python3.6-dev (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 python3.6-minimal
 python-minimal
 python3.6
 python3.6-dev
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I then tried to update the minimal package with sudo apt-get install -f --reinstall python3.6-minimal but that returns

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
4 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
E: Internal Error, No file name for python3.6-minimal:amd64

I'm not really an experienced linux user, so I'm quite stuck here. Does someone have an idea how I can fix my python installation?

po.pe
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  • Anyone got an idea? – po.pe Aug 21 '18 at 06:43
  • Would still be really happy if I could fix this without a complete Ubuntu re-install – po.pe Sep 08 '18 at 15:18
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    use `apt-get purge --remove && apt autoremove && apt autoclean` and install again your python – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Sep 08 '18 at 15:21
  • and `` would be what? Sorry I'm not really a Linux user... – po.pe Sep 08 '18 at 15:31
  • use as python3.6 – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Sep 08 '18 at 15:32
  • `purge` is failing with `Could not find platform independent libraries Could not find platform dependent libraries Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to [:] Fatal Python error: Py_Initialize: Unable to get local encoding ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings'` So same output as I listed in my question for `sudo apt-get install pyhton3.6` – po.pe Sep 08 '18 at 15:46
  • you still have 4 not upgrade, type `apt-get update && apt-get upgrade && dpkg --configure -a && sudo dpkg-configure python3.6` – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Sep 08 '18 at 15:51
  • Unfortunately that doesn't help. What seems strange to me is when I do `apt-get install python3.6-minimal` it somehow refers to python2.7. What does that `Could not find platform dependent/independent libraries` message mean? Is my Python not properly deleted or have I deleted files I should have not? – po.pe Sep 08 '18 at 17:02
  • the output said "Errors were encountered while processing: python3.6-minimal python-minimal python3.6 python3.6-dev" ,try to type `apt-get install --fix-broken` – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Sep 10 '18 at 07:51
  • Gives the same output... :( Additionally it says that `dpkg: error processing package python3.6 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured` and the same for `python3.6-dev` – po.pe Sep 10 '18 at 13:40
  • you still encountered while processing python-minimal, try to `apt-get purge python* && apt-get autoclean && apt-get install python*` sir – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Sep 10 '18 at 13:47
  • Still the same messages. So I guess the only option that's left is to re-install the whole Linux? – po.pe Sep 13 '18 at 14:20
  • abu-ahmed al-khatiri, can you create an answer out of your comments? I got it fixed... not sure why exactly it didn't work the first time. – po.pe Oct 02 '18 at 06:19
  • If anyone has a similar "python is broken or not fully installed" error, try checking the symlinks. In my case, my `/usr/bin/python3` symlink was incorrectly set (I think because I was messing with pyenv or something) and so I had to relink it to `/usr/bin/python3.9`, the system python version for Ubuntu 21.04. After that, it was still not configured correctly, so I ran `sudo apt install --reinstall python3.9` and then everything clicked back in place. – OzzyTheGiant May 21 '22 at 17:56

2 Answers2

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dpkg: error processing package python3.6-minimal (--configure):
dpkg: error processing package python3.6 (--configure):
dpkg: error processing package python3.6-dev (--configure):

You have 3 dpkg package error to need reconfigure, one thing to do that follow

sudo dpkg --configure -a

i see you have 4 package not upgraded 

Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
4 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.

Make sure all package had been updated and upgraded, run

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove

if the output log said 

Errors were encountered while processing:  
python3.6-minimal  
python-minimal  
python3.6  
python3.6-dev

try to type sudo apt-get install --fix-broken

if you still have error encountered while processing that package, try to purge and remove all python and reinstall it again, follow

sudo apt-get purge python* && sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo apt-get install python*

Hope this helps.

abu-ahmed al-khatiri
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  • Okay, seems like I fixed it for 3.6 but not for 2.7 :( – po.pe Oct 03 '18 at 09:47
  • what's about python2.7 ? – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Oct 03 '18 at 09:48
  • When I do `sudo apt-get install --fix-broken` I get the same error as before but for `python2.7` and `python2.7-minimal` respectively. I came accross this problem when I tried to install `pycharm` – po.pe Oct 03 '18 at 10:01
  • @Humpawumpa I see you still have 16 apt not upgraded, make sure your apt updated/upgraded and run `sudo dpkg-reconfigure python2.7* ` – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Oct 03 '18 at 10:09
  • When I do `upgrade` it says `0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. 2 not fully installed or removed` and these two seem to be `python-minimal` and `python2.7-minimal`. For the `reconfigure` command it tells me that `python2.7*` is an illegal package name, think it doesn't like the asterix. – po.pe Oct 03 '18 at 10:16
  • @Humpawumpa remove them with type `sudo apt autoremove` and reinstall python2.7 package – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Oct 03 '18 at 10:18
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/83988/discussion-between-humpawumpa-and-abu-ahmed-al-khatiri). – po.pe Oct 03 '18 at 10:19
  • Deleted the comment, and made a new question: [refer](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1374246/errors-were-encountered-while-processing-mercurial-common) – Black Chase Nov 08 '21 at 08:24
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I had the same problem and was able to solve it with from here and then here . Non of the solutions with apt install or apt purge and then apt autoremove and ... worked for me unless I download them with apt download and then install them with dpkg -i. This is what worked for me:

sudo apt-get download python3 python3.6 python3-minimal python3.6-minimal libpython3.6-minimal
sudo dpkg -i *python3*.deb

Here i got an error about FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/usr/lib/python3.6/__phello__.foo.py' which I was able to slove it with this:

sudo apt-get download libpython3.6-stdlib
sudo dpkg -i libpython3.6-stdlib*

After this everything that depended on that default (hard to install) python3.6-minimal worked. For example I could not install ufw before this but I could after.

Emad
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