Celeb Glow
news | March 17, 2026

Unable to install python3-dev ubuntu

When I tried to install python3-dev using sudo apt-get install python3-dev I got the following message

python3-dev : Depends: libpython3-dev (= 3.4.0-0ubuntu2) but it is not going to be installed Depends: python3.4-dev (>= 3.4.0-0~) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

So I tried installing dependencies libpython3-dev then I got this message

The following packages have unmet dependencies: libpython3.4-dev : Depends: libpython3.4-stdlib (= 3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1) but 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.1 is to be installed Depends: libpython3.4 (= 3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1) but 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.1 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

However both the dependencies are already installed.I'm using Ubuntu 14.04

When I ran the apt-cache policy python3.4 I got

 python3.4: Installed: 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.1 Candidate: 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.1 Version table: *** 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.1 0 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1 0 500 trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages 500 trusty-security/main amd64 Packages 3.4.0-2ubuntu1 0 500 trusty/main amd64 Packages
8

2 Answers

The solution is to wait for the Ubuntu developers to re-upload Python 3.4.3 to the updates repository. This should happen any day now. Keep your eyes on bug #1348954.

Edit: Fixed. Installing python3-dev works again.

Okay So I went through this and temporarily solved the problem by forcefully downgrading my python

apt-get install -y \ python3.4=3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1 \ python3.4-minimal=3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1 \ libpython3.4-stdlib=3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1 \ libpython3.4-minimal=3.4.0-2ubuntu1.1

Edit: After this reinstall stdlib as it misses some libraries. Removing python3 might remove some packages of your desktop environment reinstall the desktop environment in that case.

I had some issues with lightdm after this. Before removing print the removed packages and reinstall them with new python 3

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