broke my apt

[cohoking]

when I try and update,


sudo apt-get update

I get the following message


apt-get: error while loading shared libraries: libapt-pkg.so.4.12: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory


Synaptic package manager does't work either. I have no idea what I did but it's completely broken.

I am looking to reinstall or fix apt, preferably without reinstalling ubuntu completely.

I've looked around and don't see a solution to this problem.

any help appreciated!

Ubuntu 12.04 64, IBM T400

[workaround]

Do reinstall-repair, that should fix the installation.

[Lars Noodén]

Have you tried the following?



sudo apt-get --fix-broken --reinstall install libapt-pkg4.12

[cohoking]

Have you tried the following?



sudo apt-get --fix-broken --reinstall install libapt-pkg4.12


Sorry this took so long to respond; this doesn't work. Anything involving apt-get returns the same error code as before



apt-get: error while loading shared libraries: libapt-pkg.so.4.12: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

[cohoking]

Do reinstall-repair, that should fix the installation.

Thanks for the tip; can you point me in the right direction how to reinstall? Does this involve an installation disk or is there a simpler way?

[cohoking]

This is how I resolved it.

get the library manually here:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/libapt-pkg4.12



ls -l /var/lib/dpkg/info/libapt-pkg4.12:amd64*
sudo rm -r /var/lib/dpkg/info/libapt-pkg4.12:amd64.postinst
sudo dpkg -i libapt-pkg4.12_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.2_amd64.deb
apt-get install -f


I hope this is helpful to others!