Unmet dependencies in ubuntu 16.04

[wimathome]

I am unable to update or upgrade ubuntu 16.04 LTS and get error messages about unmet dependencies.

sudo apt-get -f install gives this response:


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-4.4.0-59 linux-headers-4.4.0-59-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-62
linux-headers-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-4.4.0-59-generic
linux-image-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-59-generic
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-62-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
libreoffice-common
Suggested packages:
libreoffice-style-hicontrast libreoffice-style-human
libreoffice-style-oxygen libreoffice-style-sifr libreoffice-style-tango
The following packages will be upgraded:
libreoffice-common
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 282 not upgraded.
20 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/22,5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 58,4 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 340897 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb ...
Unpacking libreoffice-common (1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) over (1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.2-9782
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/program/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.5-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Unknown media type in type 'all/all'
Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160824-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Can someone help me to resolve this?

[QIII]

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[Perfect Storm]

Try upgrade the system first:


sudo apt-get upgrade

[wimathome]

Upgrade gives me this as response:


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libreoffice-core : Depends: libreoffice-common (> 1:5.1.6~rc2) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
libreoffice-java-common : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
libreoffice-style-breeze : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
libreoffice-style-galaxy : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

[QIII]

Have you installed a version of LibreOffice from a repository or .deb other than the 16.04 repository?

[wimathome]

No I didn't install libreoffice recently. Actually it was pre-installed when I bought it a couple of months ago and it always worked fine.

[QIII]

Pre-installed by whom?

[wimathome]

By the retailer who sold me the computer. They sell notebooks with pre-installed ubuntu.

[QIII]

OK.

Looks like libreoffice-common (1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) is a security update.

Have you tried


sudo apt update

sudo apt dist-upgrade?

apt also has full-upgrade, but dist-upgrade is not deprecated. They do slightly different things. dist-upgrade will attempt to handle dependencies "intelligently".

Neither dist-upgrade nor full-upgrade will attempt to upgrade you to the next release of Ubuntu.

[wimathome]

OK, thanks. So this is what I got.

After sudo apt update:


Hit:1 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Get:2 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [102 kB]
Get:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [102 kB]
Get:4 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [288 kB]
Get:5 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [184 kB]
Get:6 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [139 kB]
Get:7 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/universe DEP-11 64x64 Icons [169 kB]
Get:8 http://be.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/multiverse amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [2.520 B]
Get:9 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [54,2 kB]
Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main DEP-11 64x64 Icons [40,7 kB]
Get:11 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/universe amd64 DEP-11 Metadata [32,1 kB]
Get:12 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/universe DEP-11 64x64 Icons [37,0 kB]
Fetched 1.152 kB in 1s (1.029 kB/s)
AppStream cache update completed, but some metadata was ignored due to errors.
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
283 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

After sudo apt-get dist-upgrade:


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libreoffice-core : Depends: libreoffice-common (> 1:5.1.6~rc2) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
libreoffice-java-common : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
libreoffice-style-breeze : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
libreoffice-style-galaxy : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

[steeldriver]

The root of the problem seems to be that a debian openoffice package has been installed at some point, and that's causing a conflict with libreoffice



dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.2-9782

[wimathome]

Yes, that could be. So how could I solve that?

[ian-weisser]

Uninstall the debian libreoffice packages.
If in doubt, uninstall ALL libreoffice packages, then reinstall from the Ubuntu repositories.

[wimathome]

I tried to remove both libreoffice and openoffice with
sudo apt-get purge openoffice and sudo apt-get purge libreoffice

but that doesn't work.

[steeldriver]

Perhaps it was installed via dpkg not apt? what does



dpkg -l | grep -i openoffice


say?

[wimathome]

That says a lot:

ii hyphen-en-us 2.8.8-2ubuntu1 all US English hyphenation patterns for LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org
ii mythes-de 20120516-2 all German Thesaurus for OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice
ii mythes-de-ch 20120516-2 all German Thesaurus for OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice (Swiss Version)
ii mythes-en-au 2.1-5.4 all Australian English Thesaurus for OpenOffice.org
ii openoffice 4.1.2-3 amd64 Brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-base 4.1.2-3 amd64 Base module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-base 4.1.2-3 amd64 Base brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-calc 4.1.2-3 amd64 Calc brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-de 4.1.2-3 amd64 Brand language module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-draw 4.1.2-3 amd64 Draw brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-en-gb 4.1.2-3 amd64 Brand language module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-fr 4.1.2-3 amd64 Brand language module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-impress 4.1.2-3 amd64 Impress brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-math 4.1.2-3 amd64 Math brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-nl 4.1.2-3 amd64 Brand language module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-brand-writer 4.1.2-3 amd64 Writer brand module for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-calc 4.1.2-3 amd64 Calc module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core01 4.1.2-3 amd64 Core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core02 4.1.2-3 amd64 Office core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core03 4.1.2-3 amd64 Office core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core04 4.1.2-3 amd64 Office core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core05 4.1.2-3 amd64 Office core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core06 4.1.2-3 amd64 Office core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-core07 4.1.2-3 amd64 Office core module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-de 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-base 4.1.2-3 amd64 Base language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-calc 4.1.2-3 amd64 Calc language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-draw 4.1.2-3 amd64 Draw language module for Apache OpenOffice , language de
ii openoffice-de-help 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language help module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-impress 4.1.2-3 amd64 Impress language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-math 4.1.2-3 amd64 Math language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-res 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language resource module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-de-writer 4.1.2-3 amd64 Writer language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language de
ii openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.2-9782 all OpenOffice desktop integration
ii openoffice-draw 4.1.2-3 amd64 Draw module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-en-gb 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-base 4.1.2-3 amd64 Base language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-calc 4.1.2-3 amd64 Calc language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-draw 4.1.2-3 amd64 Draw language module for Apache OpenOffice , language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-help 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language help module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-impress 4.1.2-3 amd64 Impress language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-math 4.1.2-3 amd64 Math language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-res 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language resource module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-en-gb-writer 4.1.2-3 amd64 Writer language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language en_GB
ii openoffice-fr 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-base 4.1.2-3 amd64 Base language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-calc 4.1.2-3 amd64 Calc language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-draw 4.1.2-3 amd64 Draw language module for Apache OpenOffice , language fr
ii openoffice-fr-help 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language help module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-impress 4.1.2-3 amd64 Impress language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-math 4.1.2-3 amd64 Math language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-res 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language resource module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-fr-writer 4.1.2-3 amd64 Writer language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language fr
ii openoffice-gnome-integration 4.1.2-3 amd64 Gnome integration module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-graphicfilter 4.1.2-3 amd64 Graphic filter module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-images 4.1.2-3 amd64 Images module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-impress 4.1.2-3 amd64 Impress module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-javafilter 4.1.2-3 amd64 Java filter module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-math 4.1.2-3 amd64 Math module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-nl 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-base 4.1.2-3 amd64 Base language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-calc 4.1.2-3 amd64 Calc language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-draw 4.1.2-3 amd64 Draw language module for Apache OpenOffice , language nl
ii openoffice-nl-help 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language help module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-impress 4.1.2-3 amd64 Impress language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-math 4.1.2-3 amd64 Math language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-res 4.1.2-3 amd64 Language resource module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-nl-writer 4.1.2-3 amd64 Writer language module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2, language nl
ii openoffice-ogltrans 4.1.2-3 amd64 OpenGL slide transitions module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-onlineupdate 4.1.2-3 amd64 Online update modul for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-ooofonts 4.1.2-3 amd64 Mailcap module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-ooolinguistic 4.1.2-3 amd64 Linguistic module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-pyuno 4.1.2-3 amd64 Pyuno module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-ure 4.1.2-3 amd64 UNO Runtime Environment for OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-writer 4.1.2-3 amd64 Writer module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice-xsltfilter 4.1.2-3 amd64 XSLT filter samples module for Apache OpenOffice 4.1.2
ii openoffice.org-hyphenation 0.9 all Hyphenation patterns for OpenOffice.org

[ian-weisser]

but that doesn't work.

Unfortunately, that's not enough information to help you.
Please show us everything you tried, and the complete output of each try.
More details help a lot.

[oldrocker99]

Have you done this?
sudo apt-get -f install

If that command is recommended, it is a good idea to enter it. This will most likely remove your LibreOffice files, and then you can enter
sudo apt-get install libreoffice

Good luck.

[wimathome]

Unfortunately, that's not enough information to help you.
Please show us everything you tried, and the complete output of each try.
More details help a lot.
OK. So sudo apt-get -f install gave

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libhsqldb1.8.0-java libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-sdbc-firebird
libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb linux-headers-4.4.0-59
linux-headers-4.4.0-59-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-62
linux-headers-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-4.4.0-59-generic
linux-image-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-59-generic
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-62-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
libreoffice-common
Suggested packages:
libreoffice-style-hicontrast libreoffice-style-human
libreoffice-style-oxygen libreoffice-style-sifr libreoffice-style-tango
The following packages will be upgraded:
libreoffice-common
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 286 not upgraded.
19 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/22,5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 58,4 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 340845 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb ...
Unpacking libreoffice-common (1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) over (1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.2-9782
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/program/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.5-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Unknown media type in type 'all/all'
Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160824-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
sudo apt-get remove openoffice*.* gives

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-debian-menus' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fr-fr' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de-ch' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-ca' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-us' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-updatedicts' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-de' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-fr' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-nl' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-kde' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-common' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-an' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ca' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eo' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-es' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eu' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fo' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-gl' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nb' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nn' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nr' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ns' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ss' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-st' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tl' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tn' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-uz' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ve' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-xh' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-zu' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-impress' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hunspell' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-fi' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ga' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-hr' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-id' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-calc' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-writer' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-lt' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-pl' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ru' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org2-thesaurus' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-ure' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-en-gb' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-writer' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-it' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-pl' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-bundled' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-calc' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-dict-en' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-dict-es' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-dict-fr' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-base' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-en-us' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-core' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-draw' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-dev-doc' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-math' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-dmaths' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-de-at' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-de-ch' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-de-de' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-unbundled' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org3-base' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-en-au' for glob 'openoffice*.*'
Package 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-it' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'dictionaries-common' instead of 'openoffice.org-updatedicts'
Package 'openoffice.org-hunspell' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-core' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hunspell-an' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-an'
Package 'openoffice.org' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hunspell-ca' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ca'
Package 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-en-us' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hunspell-eu' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eu'
Note, selecting 'hunspell-gl-es' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-gl'
Note, selecting 'hunspell-uz' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-uz'
Package 'openoffice.org-writer' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hyphen-en-us' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-us'
Note, selecting 'hyphen-en-us' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en'
Package 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-hr' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'hyphen-pl' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-pl'
Note, selecting 'hyphen-ru' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ru'
Package 'openoffice.org-base' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-common' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-dev-doc' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'myspell-eo' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-eo'
Note, selecting 'myspell-es' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-es'
Note, selecting 'myspell-fo' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fo'
Note, selecting 'myspell-nb' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nb'
Note, selecting 'myspell-nn' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nn'
Note, selecting 'myspell-nr' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-nr'
Note, selecting 'myspell-ns' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ns'
Note, selecting 'myspell-ss' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ss'
Note, selecting 'myspell-st' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-st'
Note, selecting 'myspell-tn' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tn'
Note, selecting 'myspell-ve' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-ve'
Note, selecting 'myspell-xh' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-xh'
Note, selecting 'myspell-zu' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-zu'
Note, selecting 'mythes-de' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de'
Note, selecting 'mythes-de-ch' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-de-ch'
Note, selecting 'mythes-en-au' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-en-au'
Note, selecting 'mythes-en-au' instead of 'openoffice.org2-thesaurus'
Note, selecting 'mythes-pl' instead of 'openoffice.org-thesaurus-pl'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-en-ca'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-fi'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-ga'
Note, selecting 'openoffice.org-hyphenation' instead of 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-id'
Package 'openoffice.org-calc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-kde' is not installed, so not removed
Note, selecting 'myspell-fr-gut' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-fr-fr'
Note, selecting 'myspell-tl' instead of 'openoffice.org-spellcheck-tl'
Package 'openoffice.org-dmaths' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-bundled' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-writer' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-dict-es' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-dict-en' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-dict-fr' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-base' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-en-gb' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-impress' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-fr' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-math' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-calc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-nl' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-de' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org3-draw' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-ure' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-debian-menus' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'openoffice.org-hyphenation-lt' is not installed, so not removed
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libreoffice-core : Depends: libreoffice-common (> 1:5.1.6~rc2) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-java-common : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-style-breeze : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-style-galaxy : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
sudo apt-get remove libreoffice*.* gives

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'libreoffice.org-writer' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-help-5.1' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-dtd-officedocument1.0' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-3.5' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-3.6' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-4.0' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-4.1' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-4.2' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-4.3' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-4.4' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-5.0' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice-l10n-5.1' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Note, selecting 'libreoffice.org-calc' for glob 'libreoffice*.*'
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-3.5' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-3.6' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-4.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-4.1' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-4.2' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-4.3' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-4.4' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-l10n-5.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice-dtd-officedocument1.0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice.org-calc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libreoffice.org-writer' is not installed, so not removed
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libreoffice-core : Depends: libreoffice-common (> 1:5.1.6~rc2) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-java-common : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-style-breeze : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-style-galaxy : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
sudo apt-get purge openoffice gives

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
libreoffice-core : Depends: libreoffice-common (> 1:5.1.6~rc2) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-java-common : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-style-breeze : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
libreoffice-style-galaxy : Depends: libreoffice-common (= 1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) but 1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1 is to be installed
openoffice-brand-base : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-calc : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-de : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-draw : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-en-gb : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-fr : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-impress : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-math : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-nl : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
openoffice-brand-writer : Depends: openoffice but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
I hope this gives you enough information. Thanks.

[wimathome]

I tried to remove openoffice packages with
sudo dpkg --remove --force-depends --force-remove-reinstreq openoffice
Reply as
dpkg: openoffice: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you requested:
openoffice-brand-draw depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-de depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-nl depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-calc depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-math depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-fr depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-impress depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-en-gb depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-base depends on openoffice.
openoffice-brand-writer depends on openoffice.

(Reading database ... 340844 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing openoffice (4.1.2-3) ...
After this sudo apt-get -f install responds as follows:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libhsqldb1.8.0-java libreoffice-base-drivers libreoffice-sdbc-firebird
libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb linux-headers-4.4.0-59
linux-headers-4.4.0-59-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-62
linux-headers-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-4.4.0-59-generic
linux-image-4.4.0-62-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-59-generic
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-62-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
libreoffice-common
Suggested packages:
libreoffice-style-hicontrast libreoffice-style-human
libreoffice-style-oxygen libreoffice-style-sifr libreoffice-style-tango
The following packages will be REMOVED:
openoffice-brand-base openoffice-brand-calc openoffice-brand-de
openoffice-brand-draw openoffice-brand-en-gb openoffice-brand-fr
openoffice-brand-impress openoffice-brand-math openoffice-brand-nl
openoffice-brand-writer
The following packages will be upgraded:
libreoffice-common
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 10 to remove and 286 not upgraded.
19 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/22,5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 867 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 340812 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb ...
Unpacking libreoffice-common (1:5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1) over (1:5.1.4-0ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb (--unpack):
trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.2-9782
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/prereg/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/share/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice/program/': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
rmdir: failed to remove '/var/lib/libreoffice': No such file or directory
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.5-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Unknown media type in type 'all/all'
Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles'
Processing triggers for bamfdaemon (0.5.3~bzr0+16.04.20160824-0ubuntu1) ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf-2.index...
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-6ubuntu3.1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[wimathome]

Seems like I found a solution here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1642173

sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite /var/cache/apt/archives/libreoffice-common_1%3a5.1.6~rc2-0ubuntu1~xenial1_all.deb
This seemed to remove the .deb package that was causing the problems.