struck with dependency error of my previous installations in ubuntu

Question

i tried running apt-get update and install php5-curl in the below manner.

root@ubuntu:/home/thinkcloud# apt-get install php5-curl
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:

 swftools : Depends: libart-2.0-2 (>= 2.3.18) but it is not going to be installed

            Depends: libgif4 (>= 4.1.4) but it is not going to be installed

E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

root@ubuntu:/home/thinkcloud#

This swftools Dependency repeats to what ever installation i try. how can i clear this?

Answer 1

You could always simply purge it.

Either apt-get purge swftools or dpkg -P swftools should do it. You will probably have to use dpkg since your system directly since your system is broken state.