ia32-libs in precise is missing libgconf-2-4:i386

This bug was fixed in the package ia32-libs - 20090808ubuntu34

---------------
ia32-libs (20090808ubuntu34) precise; urgency=low

  * Re-add libxtst6 (LP: #946381) and libgconf-2-4 (LP: #953404), since these
    libs are still needed by some packages that use ia32-libs.
 -- Steve Langasek <email address hidden> Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:55:36 -0700

still unable to install/update packages.
stuck with the prompt for running: "apt-get -f install" which yields an error:

dpkg: error processing libgconf-2-4:i386 (--configure):
 libgconf-2-4:i386 3.2.5-0ubuntu1 cannot be configured because libgconf-2-4:amd64 is in a different version (3.2.5-0ubuntu2)
dpkg: error processing libgconf-2-4 (--configure):
 libgconf-2-4:amd64 3.2.5-0ubuntu2 cannot be configured because libgconf-2-4:i386 is in a different version (3.2.5-0ubuntu1)
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gconf-service-backend:
 gconf-service-backend depends on libgconf-2-4 (= 3.2.5-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libgconf-2-4 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing gconf-service-backend (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gconf-service:
 gconf-service depends on gconf-service-backend (= 3.2.5-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package gconf-service-backend is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing gconf-service (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                                                                                            dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libgconf2-4:
 libgconf2-4 depends on libgconf-2-4 (= 3.2.5-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package libgconf-2-4 is not configured yet.
 libgconf2-4 depends on gconf-service; however:
  Package gconf-service is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libgconf2-4 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gconf2:
 gconf2 depends on gconf-service; however:
  Package gconf-service is not configured yet.
 gconf2 depends on libgconf-2-4 (>= 2.31.1); however:
  Package libgconf-2-4 is not configured yet.
 gconf2 depends on gconf-service-backend (= 3.2.5-0ubuntu2); however:
  Package gconf-service-backend is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing gconf2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              Errors were encountered while processing:
 libgconf-2-4:i386
 libgconf-2-4
 gconf-service-backend
 gconf-service
 libgconf2-4
 gconf2
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Darian, you appear to be running into an apt bug here (bug #947500); "apt-get -f install" should not try to configure multiarch libraries while they are unpacked at different versions across architectures, it should instead be trying to upgrade the libraries to match.

So to fix this by hand, you will need to run 'apt-get install libgconf-2-4:i386', or, if that fails, use 'dpkg -i' to install the .deb by hand from /var/cache/apt and then run 'apt-get -f install' again.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your prompt response.

Running dpkg fixed the issue (apt-get install libgconf-2-4:i386 still resulted in some version conflict)
Subsequent apt-get -f install ran successfully and so upgrading new packages.

System is now back to normal.

Only thing is, I have one desktop (64bit) and two Laptops (64bit and 32bit) with identical configurations (oneconf & software center) the 64bits are clean installs (not upgrades)
This issue appeared only on my Desktop for some reason.

It's also missing in oneiric (but not natty). If it would be possible to backport this fix to oneiric users, that would be convenient.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/amd64/ia32-libs/filelist
http://packages.ubuntu.com/oneiric/amd64/ia32-libs/filelist