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My Linux Mint 13 64-bit system has developed a problem. Whilst I can run basic commands like ls and vi if I try anything more complex (I have tried python2.7, mysql-workbench and adduser) I get:-

Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>

Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>

Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]

ImportError: No module named site

I went to another system (Mint 13 32-bit) and ran:

# echo $PYTHONHOME,

and got a blank line so no idea what

<prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]

are?

Unsure where to go next?

After further Googling I tried both “sudo dpkg –configure -a” and “sudo apt-get install -f ” with the following results:-

HP-255-G1 # sudo dpkg --configure -a

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python-appindicator:

python-appindicator depends on libappindicator1 (= 0.4.92-0ubuntu1);

however:

Version of libappindicator1 on system is 0.4.92-0ubuntu1.1.

dpkg: error processing python-appindicator (--configure):

dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of python-uno:

 python-uno depends on libreoffice-core (= 1:3.5.2-2ubuntu1); however:

Version of libreoffice-core on system is 1:3.5.7-0ubuntu7.

dpkg: error processing python-uno (--configure):

dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

Errors were encountered while processing:

python-appindicator

 python-uno



HP-255-G1 # sudo apt-get install -f

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information... Done

Correcting dependencies... Done

The following extra packages will be installed:

python-appindicator python-uno

The following packages will be upgraded:

python-appindicator python-uno

2 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 690 not upgraded.

2 not fully installed or removed.

E: Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)

E: Unable to lock directory /var/cache/apt/archives/

So it looks as if “python-uno” and "python-appindicator" are central to some of the issues but where to now?

Here is the requested output:-

HP-255-G1# apt-cache policy python-uno python-appindicator

python-uno:

Installed: 1:3.5.2-2ubuntu1

Candidate: 1:3.5.7-0ubuntu7

Version table:

1:3.5.7-0ubuntu7 0

500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages

500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages

*** 1:3.5.2-2ubuntu1 0

500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

python-appindicator:

Installed: 0.4.92-0ubuntu1

Candidate: 0.4.92-0ubuntu1.1

Version table:

0.4.92-0ubuntu1.1 0

500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages

*** 0.4.92-0ubuntu1 0

500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I managed to get the Synaptic Package Manager running from the command line and tried to update python-uno and python-appindicator. This failed but hopefully the output (below) is another clue:-

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/python-appindicator_0.4.92-0ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb:

subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/python-uno_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu7_amd64.deb:

subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1

After discussion with the poster on chat, starting http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/20047753#20047753, it turned out the poster's machine is missing /usr/lib/python2.7, see http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/20052960#20052960. This accounts for most of the poster's problems. In particular, the errors:

Could not find platform independent libraries <prefix>

Could not find platform dependent libraries <exec_prefix>

Consider setting $PYTHONHOME to <prefix>[:<exec_prefix>]

ImportError: No module named site

stem from these missing libraries.

The next thing to do is to restore the base Python libraries under /usr/lib/python2.7. One way to do this is to download the deb files corresponding to python2.7, python2.7-minimal and libpython2.7, and then install them using dpkg -i. I.e.

apt-get download python2.7 python2.7-minimal libpython2.7

dpkg -i python*.deb

Once this is done, hopefully the package system will stop freaking out. Then install debsums, if it is not already installed, and restore the remaining missing files using debsums -as.