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I've been trying to download / install VLC but so far, no joy. The terminal gives me the following:-

$ sudo apt-get install vlc 
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:
 vlc : Depends: vlc-plugin-base (= 3.0.8-0ubuntu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: vlc-plugin-qt (= 3.0.8-0ubuntu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
       Depends: vlc-plugin-video-output (= 3.0.8-0ubuntu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
       Recommends: vlc-plugin-skins2 (= 3.0.8-0ubuntu18.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Can anyone give me any pointers as to what next?

Hello Kulfy, Thanx for this, the installation is new (2days?) & is installed as a replacement for win7.

Here's the output. http replaced by hxxp everywhere:-

john@john-Compaq-610:~$ sudo cat /etc/apt/sources.list
[sudo] password for john: 
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS _Bionic Beaver_ - Release amd64 (20200203.1)]/ bionic main restricted

# See hxxp://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic universe
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic universe
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu 
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to 
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in 
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic multiverse
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic multiverse
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-updates multiverse

## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src hxxp://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ bionic-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb hxxp://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner
# deb-src hxxp://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu bionic partner

deb hxxp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
# deb-src hxxp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security main restricted
deb hxxp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
# deb-src hxxp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security universe
deb hxxp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
# deb-src hxxp://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security multiverse
Raffa
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John Sanderson
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  • What is the output of `cat /etc/apt/sources.list`? Please paste the output in question itself by [edit]ing. – Kulfy Mar 29 '20 at 19:47
  • It's right there in your output: "*you have requested an impossible situation*." Your question needs to include more context - what changes did you make, what sources did you add, what were you trying to do that broke your apt *before* trying to install VLC? Without more detail, all we can tell you is to remove all non-Ubuntu, wrong-version, and PPA-provided packages, and disable the sources those packages came from. – user535733 Mar 29 '20 at 19:47
  • Does this answer your question? [How do I enable the "Universe" repository?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/148638/how-do-i-enable-the-universe-repository) – N0rbert Mar 29 '20 at 20:06
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    Go `sudo apt update` & try again. If no go run `apt-cache policy vlc-plugin-base`, what does it report? – doug Mar 30 '20 at 05:18
  • Does this answer your question? [Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages](https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-problems-you-have-held-broken-packages) – karel Mar 30 '20 at 12:21
  • Doug - thanks very much. sudo apt update fixed it nicely. – John Sanderson Mar 30 '20 at 14:06
  • Does this answer your question? [Unable to update or install anything after moving to another country](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1169657/unable-to-update-or-install-anything-after-moving-to-another-country) – Raffa Apr 03 '20 at 17:44

0 Answers0