I realize this seems to be a very popular question but none of the fixes worked for me. I use ubuntu 18.04 and I've been unable to apt install anything for the good part of 6 months. It says the issue is coming from python3-pip which I am unable to use too. I tried purging it but I get a similar traceback.
dpkg: error processing package python3-pip (--remove): package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting a removal
Errors were encountered while processing: python3-pip
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)Anyone who has an idea how to fix this. It seems to have broken apt itself
2 Answers
Here's first three results when I googled that:
Do any of these help you?
The message itself indicates what you should do. You should run sudo apt install python3-pip to attempt to install the package again. If APT refuses, simply run apt download python3-pip, then run sudo dpkg -i python3-pip*.deb. That should install the package and ensure it's in a good state.
If you still have a dependency problem, try sudo apt -f install to make sure the dependencies are correct and install the appropriate packages. If you then want to remove the python3-pip package, you can do so, once APT is in a good state.
